SGU: The Journey The Mission
by Simon Cross
Summary: This is the continuation of Destiny's journey and mission. It's been three years, and it's time for the ship and crew to wake up again and take up their task. Time has passed, but the mission is the same: unlock the secrets of the universe.
1. Reboot

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_This is episode one of a third season of SGU that I had so badly wanted to see. I had a lot of ideas and aspirations for the show and this is just my way of trying to keep the spirit of the Stargate franchise alive for me and all those who had 14 great years with it._

_I hope that fellow SGU and sci-fi lovers enjoy this work. Please please please review this and give me your honest opinions! And if you know other SGU fans send it on to them! __I plan to publish regularly and write at least a full 20 episode season, and your reviews will help me guide the work and see if I should keep going._

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words. The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>301: Reboot<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery __by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_This is the path that the seed ships plotted for us through this galaxy._

_And these are the command ships._

_And they're at every single Gate?_

_So unless you have some genius idea that solves all our problems._

_We skip it. One continuous F.T.L. jump out and around the length of this galaxy, across the gap to the next one until we reach the first Gate on the other side._

_Whatever happens, we're not giving up on you. Good luck, Everett._

_We repaired the eight pods, but one of them was more damaged than we thought. We might be one short._

_If __I__ do it, at least I have a chance - maybe even a better chance than Rush. For too long, I've been content to stay in his shadow, play the part of the eager young protégé, take his orders._

_I don't want __anyone__ to die, Eli. This isn't even my idea, remember? We're gonna need you on the other side. You do have tremendous potential. I'd hate to see you throw it all away._

_You're a good man, Eli. You get this done. I'm gonna see you on the other side."_

* * *

><p>Clouds drifted overheard, partly blocking the light from the sun. Enough streaked through them and the leaves of the tree he sat next to that Nicholas Rush could clearly read his notepad even with sunglasses. He looked up to see a couple walk past him, and uninterestingly glared back to his work. It seemed he was working on some equation, but the symbols he used would confound any university mathematics student. Despite his genius, even Rush couldn't seem to make the numbers work. In frustration he tore the page off and threw it to the ground.<p>

He stared back up, and for the first time actually realized where he was. He was sitting on a park bench, on Earth. He didn't know when he got there, or how.

Nothing seemed to make sense to him right now.

He heard grass crunch near him, then paper crinkle to his side, and then a voice. "Need another pair of eyes to help you?"

Rush looked up and squinted through his sunglasses, and was quite astounded.

"Mandy?" he uttered, barely making a sound as he stared wide-eyed into the face of the woman he loved, or at least he thought he loved.

Amanda Perry was holding the paper of calculations Rush had just thrown away and was showing it to him, her finger gently pointing to an equation on the middle. "Your ratio for energy needed to gravitational forces was off." She tapped her finger to more clearly point out the error, and at the same time seemed to relish the motion in itself.

Rush couldn't say anything. He was overcome with confusion, shock, emotions. All things he generally wasn't used to.

Amanda saw his trepidation and sat next to him.

"It's been too long Nick. I've missed you," she said putting the paper is his lap and taking his limp hand into her own. "I've had time to think about us, and I know you were telling the truth,"

Realization hit him then. "Mandy, is this you? Really you?"

She smiled and nodded, her skinny figure shaking uncomfortably. "It's been a long time, and it's almost time to wake up. I just needed to speak to you."

He stared into her eyes, and then looked around him, watching the trees, leaves, people, the sun. "You made this environment, to talk with me?" he said returning his vision to her.

"Yes. I needed something familiar, and this park was in your memory. I need to talk to you," she beseeched after a pause.

"Of course Mandy, anything." Just hearing her voice made Rush happy.

"I'm sorry Nick, for everything. For doubting your feelings and for putting you in danger," she opened honestly, her face full of feeling and remorse. "And for selfish reasons too. I could have stayed with you, happy with you if I didn't lock you in my world. But I had to pull you so close that in the end I had to push you away, and I'm sorry."

Rush looked into her face incredulously, taking off his sunglasses to see her better. The sun gleamed off of her dark brown hair perfectly, and her smile made him happy, and he just couldn't believe that she was apologizing to him.

"Mandy, you can't blame your –" he started, but she cut him off.

"No, Nick," she said forcefully. "I ruined our chances and I have to apologize. I just beg that you can forgive me."

He stared back again, and set his pad down on the ground, not caring about his calculations. He took both of her hands into his and looked straight at her. "Of course I forgive you Mandy. I'm sorry I couldn't keep you."

She smiled at that, but looked oddly uncomfortable too. "That's all that I need to hear."

At that the world around him started to dissolve. Rush looked around worried, but Amanda was calm, but looked urgently at him.

"Just promise me one thing," she said, and continued when he nodded. "When the time comes, don't be afraid to let go. Do you understand?"

He looked confused and bewildered turning back from the dissolving world and into her eyes. "What?"

"Do you promise me?" she asked.

He paused and looked at her again. "Yes."

And with a smile, she dissolved with the rest of the world.

* * *

><p>The stasis pod hissed open, the light from the storage chamber blinding Rush for a moment. As he stepped out he heard the other pods hiss open and their various occupants groan as they stumbled out. The sound of boots thumping across metal deck differed too much from the grass he heard in his dream. He knew where he was this time though.<p>

"Rush. Did we make it?" were the first words addressed to anyone.

His vision regained focus and he looked up to Colonel Young standing beside him. Rush had gone into the pod before Young, and he had in his mind just bidden farewell to this man not long ago. Could it have been three years already?

He shook his head slightly. "I don't know. I need to go check." With that he walked down the length of the chamber, past TJ, Scott and the others, ignoring their questions for him, and reaching the console at the front of the room.

Young followed him up a short distance, and then stopped in front of TJ.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked quietly standing within a foot of her.

She looked at him and smiled back. "Umm, yeah, actually. I'm great. First time in a stasis pod though so I guess I don't know better."

Young looked at her with some worry in him. She still had the disease, and had only three years to try and find a cure before she had symptoms.

In his silence she spoke up again. "I'd like to check the crew for signs of freezer burn or other problems usually accompanied with cryostatic suspension. I just want to make sure everyone's alright."

Young nodded his head. "Yeah, you do that. I'll meet up with you there soon. I just need to make sure we're good with Rush."

She pursed her lips and nodded, and walked out of the chamber heading to the infirmary, taking everyone except Rush and Young with her.

Young took a moment and pulled out his radio. "Lt. Scott. I want you and Greer to organize search teams to inspect the ship. Make sure it's safe."

"Yes sir," came the response.

"And Lieutenant," Young started, "look for Eli," He said, looking at the pod that had remained empty. No one had used it, and it didn't seem fixed.

"Copy that. Scott out," Scott said.

Young clipped his radio back onto his belt and walked over to Rush who in his opinion had had enough time to understand the situation.

"So, where are we?" he asked.

"Well if you're asking in the literal sense," Rush started calmly, "we did make it to the next galaxy, but just barely though."

"That's good news," Young said optimistically.

"Yeah that's about all of it," Rush said dryly.

"What do you mean?"

"_Destiny_ is almost out of power, and there are no stars nearby. I'm reading seven Stargates in range, but our Stargate is off-line. We're not even in F.T.L. anymore. It couldn't maintain it _and_ bring the life-support systems on-line to accommodate us. Life-support itself seems to be able to last only another day. _Destiny _hasn't powered up any of the crucial systems to navigate the ship. It's scrounging ever watt of power just to keep us alive, and it's killing it."

* * *

><p>"Well maybe if we shut everything down for a few hours we could make a short jump to a nearby star," Volker suggested back in the Control Interface Room.<p>

"Yeah so we can suffocate before we recharge. Great," Brody said irritably.

"Well maybe you can come up with something better instead of just beating down my ideas?" Volker responded in kind. Brody just shrugged.

Rush sat and stared at the only operating console in the room, squinting because the lights in the room were operating at a minimal amount. The main source of light came from the core itself and the wall panels light blue glow. Steam was still pouring from the ceiling vents and at least fresh air was cycling through the vents. Brody, Volker, and Park were sitting on the other chairs bouncing back ideas, and Young was leaning against the wall listening to the debacle. He looked up onto the top of the threshold to the Control Interface Room and stared at the blank countdown clock.

"I agree with Dale though," Park interjected, staring out to no one in particular. She hadn't had long to adjust to her blindness, but she was trying to remain useful. "We need to try to divert power and make the jump. Sensors show a red dwarf star only 4 light years away. All we'd need is a short jump, and we could probably scavenge enough power for that."

"Yeah, and then _also_ burn out the F.T.L. drive for good in the process," Rush spoke up for the first time. "We need to keep this ship working. It's still more important than any of us."

Volker and Brody exchanged glances. "I'm still important to me," Volker threw in.

Rush scoffed at him. "This is all bigger than us. _Destiny_ will reach a star on its own. It doesn't need us to survive."

"Hello! We've worked hard to keep this ship working!"

"Alright, stop this," Young said, stepping closer to the light of the core. "Let's start at the beginning. Why don't we have enough power? You and Eli told me there would be enough to get us across, and that _Destiny_ would recharge before reviving the crew."

"And there was enough to do that. But only that," Rush responded. Young crossed his arms and furrowed his brows leading to Rush sighing in anguish. "We did cross the massive void between galaxies, but _Destiny_ doesn't seem to be able to go any further," He looked back down and motioned to the screen. "And I believe I know why."

Volker and Brody seemed to get interested at this. Young just stepped forward to Rush. "What is it?"

"I've been reviewing the sensor logs from the three-year trip, and I found that about one week into the trip, the Stargate was activated," he said slowly.

"What?" Volker blurted out.

"How could that be?" Brody asked in the same shocked tone.

Before Rush could answer, Young's radio went off.

"Colonel Young this is Scott," Young looked at the two bewildered scientists, at a calmer Park, and then at the exhausted Rush before picking up his radio.

"This is Young. Go ahead."

"Sir, we've searched through most of the occupied areas of the ship. Everything seems to be alright."

"Good. Move the civilians back to their quarters and tell everyone to stop by the infirmary for a check-up."

"Yes sir."

Young was putting the radio down when Scott spoke again.

"Sir. We looked everywhere." A static-filled pause. "There's no sign of Eli."

Rush actually looked disappointed at that news, and the other scientists seemed horror-struck.

Young held onto the radio for a good long moment taking in the news.

"Sir?" Scott asked after the silence, hesitation in his voice.

"Understood. Young out," the Colonel answered. "Alright, back to this problem."

Rush nodded. "It looks like someone dialed in to _Destiny_. The ship stopped and because of that, it seems it lost enough energy to cost us reaching a star to recharge," He said bluntly folding his arms.

"I think the bigger problem is not the power, but who dialed in!" Volker said loudly, full of concern. "I mean, we didn't exactly make friends with many aliens."

"And it seems that any peaceful races we met died," Park added somewhat grimly. Brody's grim stare at her was useless as she couldn't see his frustration.

"Well Scott and his teams checked the ship. There's no one here," Young said reassuringly.

"Even if someone did come aboard, they would've died when life-support failed. The ship knew it wouldn't make it to the nearest star, so it dropped out of F.T.L. with enough power to keep us alive. Seems like it almost expects something out of us," Rush said trailing off.

* * *

><p>Holding the penlight to Young's eye, TJ completed her brief inspection.<p>

"Any dizziness? Nausea? Headaches?" she routinely asked.

"No more than the usual," he answered. "How's the rest of the crew?"

She put the penlight down and let Young stand up. "They're physically fine. I didn't see any signs of damage to anyone. Mentally though, a lot of them are shaken. They weren't that crazy about this idea to start with, and now that is hasn't worked out well…" she trailed off, Young understood her.

"Well, how are you?" Young asked.

"Same as everyone else," was her short answer.

"This is Rush. Can I see you in the Control Interface Room Colonel?" Rush announced abruptly through the radio.

Young unwillingly pulled his radio up. "This is Young. Can it wait?" Young asked.

"Absolutely not," was the only answer.

Young looked up to TJ who returned him a puzzled look before he stormed out of the Infirmary.

* * *

><p>"What is it?" Young said as he walking back into the Control Interface Room. "I leave for twenty minutes and you figure out a way to save the ship?"<p>

"Actually, it's possible," Volker said hovering over Rush's console.

Now interested, Young walked over to the console. On display was a Kino video.

"I found this in the logs, one week after the initial 'Gate activity," Rush elaborated before he started the video.

_Eli appeared standing in front of the Kino. "Hi guys. I left this recording to explain some things."_

At that precise moment Young's radio went off again.

"Colonel, this is Greer," MSgt. Greer said urgently over the radio. "I need you in the Gate Room, _now_."

"What is it Greer?" Young asked.

"The 'Gate's dialing."

That sent everyone in the room running out for the Gate Room.

* * *

><p>Young ran in first.<p>

"Defense teams in position now!" he shouted.

Greer was already stationed and several other soldiers ran to defensible positions. Rush went up to the console with Volker and Brody flanking him.

The 'Gate itself was still spinning, the chevrons lighting.

"What the hell is going on with the 'Gate?" Young asked quickly.

"I don't know. It looks like the computer is running a special dialing program. I've never seen these kinds of power readings before. It looks like it's dialing…" Rush looked up. "_Destiny_."

"How is that possible?" Brody exclaimed, double-checking the readings himself.

Rush shoved him over. "I can see the address, thank you very much, Mr. Brody," he snapped at him.

"I thought you said the 'Gate was off-line?" Young asked, standing near the spiral stairs taking a sidearm from one of the soldiers.

"I can't explain it. It just, works now," Rush said simply, clearly confused at the events.

The Stargate finally centered on the last chevron, and the vortex lashed out quickly before retreating to the event horizon. All the guards stiffened and aimed at the bright, shimmering pool, nervous not knowing what was coming through.

"Get out of here Rush. Brody and Volker, you too," Young ordered.

"No. It's no danger," Rush stated coolly, having no issue disregarding Young's order.

As he said that, two bodies came through the event horizon, rippling it as they passed through. The red shirted boy on the left was no stranger to anyone in the room.

"Eli!" said Young, relief going across his face. He was the last person to have seen Eli before he set out to try and repair the final pod for himself, and he was a bit of a father to him. Seeing him alive helped his own personal morale.

The man next to him though, attracted more attention. He was human, dressed in thick clothes wrapped all around him, and holding his arms up in peace.

Eli spoke up first. "Don't shoot!" he said, running up to defend the strange man.

Behind him the Stargate deactivated and the vents blew air into the room.

"Eli," Young said. "Who is this?"

"He's a friend," Eli said walking up to Young, the man following him. Young motioned to Greer to lower his weapon, and then all the other soldiers did too. Eli looked more relaxed, and the man lowered his arms as well. "His name is Kalin. He's from Novus."

"The Stargate there was destroyed. How is that possible?" Volker said.

"I'm from one of the further colonies from Novus," Kalin said, speaking for himself. "We spread very far across the galaxy."

"Yes we know. We found a few of your colonies," Young said, "but most were destroyed,"

"By the machines?" Kalin said, earning himself a few glances. "Yes, my colony suffered the same fate."

"Then could you tell me what you are doing on this ship?"

Eli looked up inquisitively. "Didn't you guys watch my video?"

* * *

><p>"<em>Hi guys. I left this recording to explain some things," Eli said. "To start, there was no way I could fix the pod in time for me to use it. It needed too many parts, and I couldn't search the ship for them or life-support would be over-taxed.<em>

"_Anyways, bigger news is coming up," he said as another man stepped into the Kino frame. "This is Kalin. He's one of the colonists who spread from Novus. He dialed in a week ago. Here, say something to them," Eli said to Kalin._

"_Hello," He stared into the Kino and just seemed awestruck, at a loss of words. "I'm sorry. I grew up hearing stories of _Destiny_ and her crew, and actually being here is just too much," He laughed and took a quick moment to contain himself. "But I suppose you'll want to know why I'm here._

"_My colony was destroyed by machines from space. Eli tells me that you have encountered them as well, and that was why you rushed to leave our space. Well, after the attack, a few of us survived and used the Stargate to travel far away. We kept going for many planets, until we were far away from the machines, where we felt safe._

"_On our distant outpost we tried to restart our lives. This was twenty-three years ago. I was a scientist of my people. My study focused on the Stargate itself. We had hundreds of years of research, and I was trying to figure a way to increase its power so I could establish a connection to another one of our colonies. During my experiments I found what seemed to be a communications link."_

_Eli jumped in here to clarify a little. "We've always gotten readings on the status of a Stargate on _Destiny_, and we knew there was a signal going to us, but we didn't know that it could work both ways."_

"_Exactly," Kalin continued excitedly. "A few days before I reached this ship, I picked up a signal. After some study, I believed the Stargate itself was announcing the arrival of the _Destiny_. Sadly no one believed me. Not that many believed that she would ever return to us, and most others believed the technology of the Stargate was too beyond us to understand. I didn't care; I was going to go to _Destiny_. The address was easily accessible, and when I dialed it, the connection was made. I could not believe myself! I didn't not know what state I might find the ship in, so I took food and power supplies with me."_

"_He was more prepared than us," Eli threw in somewhat annoyingly._

"_I had been trained to-"_

The console went dead at that moment, as the ship shut off more systems in a failed attempt to keep life-support going.

Everyone in the room stared up to Kalin at that point. Rush just stared with interest, wondering what this man knew about the Stargate that he might not, but Young was worried about him as security risk.

"Lt. Scott," Young finally said. The young officer stepped up. "Take our guest to the holding room."

"Colonel you can't do that!" Eli shouted, standing from the Kino console to defend Kalin. "I spent a week with him, and he saved my life. I trust him."

"What exactly did you do?" Rush asked.

Eli paused and looked from Kalin to Rush. "I had spent two weeks trying to fix the pod. But it wasn't going anywhere. I needed other ideas, and then Kalin came along and suggested one," He paused again. "Store our patterns in the Stargate."

Rush guffawed at him. "Of course."

Young looked annoyingly at Rush and then back to Eli. "Explain."

"Don't you have a report to make to Earth, Colonel?" Rush interjected bluntly, tiring of all his questions.

"Well they waited three years. I think they can wait another five minutes," Young retorted.

Eli looked childishly back to Young. "I wanted to do a little research, so I used the stones to go to Earth and I read up on some mission reports, of which there are a lot of for the record," He added dramatically. "Anyways, I found a report where a member of SG-1 was kept stored in the Stargate for two days, and I figured we could be stored in the memory buffer indefinitely as long as I wrote a program that would disable the 'Gate so no one could dial in or out until our patterns were returned," Eli looked down a little and nodded his head to Kalin. "He helped a lot with the calculations."

Volker looked at Kalin now with new fascination, wondering what else he could do to help. Young stared at Eli with concern. "Are you sure we can trust him?" was his only question.

Eli looked square at Kalin and then to Young. "Positive," he answered determinedly.

Young nodded and walked up to Kalin, holding out his hand. "Welcome to the _Destiny_."

Kalin smiled widely and gladly accepted his hand. Rush just scoffed and earned himself several grim looks.

"Why not just throw him a 'Welcome to the crew' party?" he shouted angrily. "This ship is dying right now, and we need to do something!"

Young looked at Rush and then at the console that was now dead. He frowned and looked up. "Didn't you say you brought power supplies with you?"

Kalin brightened up as he remembered. "Yes! Um, I left them on the Observation Deck."

"They work great, but their interface wasn't compatible with _Destiny's _systems. We were working on a converter, but life-support ran out and the suits were in an inaccessible area," Eli informed Young. He sighed and looked defeated. "We just didn't have enough time."

"Alright, well we have time now. Rush, you and Brody work with Eli and Kalin to get the power compatible with _Destiny_. Volker, I want you to try and get a console working and look for a suitable star within range we can reach in the time window," Young started ordering.

"You should get Chloe to work with you so she can make the needed calculations for a jump," Rush added calmly.

Young nodded at the suggestion. "Good. I'll report in to Earth. Go."

Volker moved to the console that had been working a few minutes ago and started to try to get power back to it. Park stayed with Volker, holding onto his arm as he guided her to a chair. Everyone else walked out to their respective areas. Young pulled out his radio as he walked down the dark hallway. "Wray this is Young. Meet me in the Communication Room now."

"On my way," came the response a few seconds later.

* * *

><p>A slight disorientation fell over Young accompanied with a soft whine, and he was then seated at a chair in Homeworld Defense. He looked down to his shirt and saw he was wearing a white lab coat with the name Dr. Lee on it. He stared up in surprise and checked on the monitor in front of him. He had indeed taken Dr. Lee's body. To his side he saw a woman he did not recognize, a Major Brooks.<p>

"Colonel Young?" an airman stationed near the door.

Young looked to the woman whom Wray was inhabiting and then to the officer. Wray also seemed surprised at the body she was in. She didn't seem to know her either.

"Yes. I need to speak with General O'Neill," Young replied slowly.

The airman hesitated and looked to Major Brooks. Wray sighed and spoke up. "Camille Wray, IOA. Can we please see the General?" she added somewhat impatiently.

The airman nodded and motioned them. "Come with me please,"

Young and Wray both stood up and followed him out of the lab and down the large hallways of the Pentagon. "Airman, why am I not in Telford's body?"

"I'll let General O'Neill explain that to you sir," he answered shortly over his shoulder.

They soon walked into a large meeting room and continued to the other end where General O'Neill was seated in an office. The airman knocked on the door and announced their presence.

"General O'Neill," he said. The man looked up from his paperwork. He was definitely aging, but still seemed fit to run this work despite having attempted to retire numerous times over the last twenty years. "Colonel Young and Camille Wray are here to see you."

O'Neill looked much more interested at this news than anything on his desk was concerned about. "Everett!" He said standing, moving to shake his hand. "It's good to see you! Well, not literally of course," He added.

Young smiled. "Yes sir it is good to be here."

O'Neill looked to Major Brooks and nodded his head. "Wray, welcome back."

"General," she responded swiftly.

"You're dismissed airman," he said, the airman leaving and closing the door behind him. "So I take it by your smiles and pleasantries that all is well, way, way out there?" O'Neill asked slowly, waving his hand out into space. He walked back to his desk and sat down behind it.

Young lost his smile and took a seat opposite him. "Actually, Sir, not exactly."

* * *

><p>"I missed the stars," Eli said. He was standing in the Observation Deck with Rush, Brody, and Kalin. The view out of the gargantuan window was beautiful, nothing but stars.<p>

"It is a wonderful sight," Kalin chipped in. "Even on the clearest night on Talus it was nothing compared to this."

"This is really not the bloody time!" Rush quipped.

Both Eli and Kalin looked back to the annoyed scientist. He was examining a large rectangular generator that Kalin had brought.

"Are you sure this can power the ship long enough?" Brody asked checking the power readings on the active generator.

"All it has to do is power the F.T.L., not the whole bloody ship," Rush snapped quickly. "And judging by these figures, if we can convert the interface we should be able to do just that," He examined the connection valves that allow various forms of interface. Of course Ancient technology that was millions of years old was not an accepted form. "We should be able to find a simple way to convert some spare parts."

"Fine. Tell me what we need and I'll go find it," Eli offered.

Rush looked up at him, his expression a mix of gratitude and irritation. He pulled out his pad and started to write some parts and dimensions for the needed configuration.

* * *

><p>"And you trust this, Kalin?" O'Neill asked incredulously.<p>

"General, he spent a week on the ship with Eli. Frankly I'm surprised he didn't tell you about him," Young said in defense.

O'Neill sighed and leaned back in his chair. "He used the stones at one point. He said he needed to do some research on Ancient technology to help him fix the pod. He was in Lee's body, but when they disconnected Lee told me that he just worked on some numbers to help out. He didn't say anything about seeing anyone there."

"Well I assure you sir, we can trust him. If he is from Novus then he would have no reason to harm us. And he did save Eli's life," Young added carefully.

O'Neill looked at Young, studying his face to try and understand him. He turned his gaze upon Wray. "Ma'am, what's your opinion of him?"

Wray shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I haven't actually met him, sir," she slowly admitted. O'Neill moaned.

"I can't just take you at your word on this," O'Neill said. "We don't know him. We don't know the whole history of these people or what happened to their ideals down the road."

"Sir I promise that when I return I will sit with him and try to get to know him," Wray proposed. "I spent quite a bit of time with the colonists from Novus, and I'm sure I can tell if he is being honest and feels like they did." She recalled speaking with her descendant, Yaozu, and how he had kept so much of her culture alive.

O'Neill looked uncomfortable as he weighed the options in his head. "Very well. You can keep him. But if something goes wrong with him, I want him off that ship."

"Understood sir," Young said. He sat up straighter. "Sir, if I may ask, where is Colonel Telford?"

The General sighed and looked through the star chart on his office window and to the meeting room. "Things… haven't gone well in our little corner of the universe in the last few years," He paused and returned his gaze to Young. "The Lucian Alliance has stepped up their game and has taken to direct attacks on our off world bases."

Young looked concerned at this information, and Wray looked plain scared. The memories of being trapped in Homeworld Command with the Lucian bomb flooded back to her.

"How bad is it?" Young asked quietly.

"Well truth of that matter is, they're not putting everything on the front lines. We've held our ground, but we've had losses. We've sped up construction of Daedalus-class ships and have built nine more in the last three years. We have allies within the Jaffa ranks so it's not too terrible, but it's cost us a lot of resources and curbed our own priorities," O'Neill said. "Telford was temporarily assigned to a new Hermes-class battle cruiser for a, special, mission." He leaned back and shook his head. "It took a lot of prodding to get him to give up his spot at the stones."

Young smirked at the news. "I bet it did."

"If I may ask, who is Major Brooks?" Wray spoke up. She had a nagging feeling she knew the name, and she just wanted some answers.

O'Neill leaned forward and pulled out a folder from his desk and passed it to Wray and Young. It was a file on Major Brooks. "Major Allison Brooks. Ex-NID operative trained in analyzing alien technology. She's going to be stopping by _Destiny_ quite a bit," he added uncomfortably.

* * *

><p>"Interesting. You can see similarities to our own technology in this," Major Brooks said marveling at Kalin's generator.<p>

Lee and Rush were sitting at the opposite end of the Observation Deck running some numbers to make sure they could make the jump. Both of them were somewhat irked at Brooks' childish appeal to the technology and lack of desire to help make it work.

"Might have something to do with the fact we probably built it," Eli remarked, sulking in a corner as Brooks had monopolized on the device and left Eli without anything to do. Kalin leaned on the railing next to him also left jobless.

"Dr. Rush this is Brody," Brody said over the radio.

"What is it Mr. Brody?" Rush replied.

"I've finished making the interface converter. I'm setting up in the Engineering Control Room now."

Rush glanced at the generator and then at the calculations. "Good work Mr. Brody. We'll bring the generator down soon. We're almost done with the power figures here."

"Understood."

Rush tossed his radio back to the table and returned to his precious numbers.

"Dr. Rush. This is Volker in the Control Interface Room," announced Volker.

Rush sighed with extreme annoyance and picked up his radio again.

"What?" Rush said through his teeth.

"We've found a suitable star five hours away at F.T.L.," Volker said slowly, picking up on Rush's agitation.

"Fine. Get Chloe to run the calculations to plot a course. I'll meet you on the bridge in half an hour," Rush said and turned off his radio.

"Eli, would you help the Major move the generator?" Rush asked almost politely from his notes.

Eli quickly got up and pulled his Kino sled into the room from the hallway. He and Kalin lifted it without too much difficulty and placed it carefully on the sled. The three quickly left the room, leaving Rush scribbling equations down and Lee just staring not being allowed to contribute significantly.

* * *

><p>"Alright. It looks like we have a connection!" Eli exclaimed excitedly staring at the humming generator. Dr. Lee and Kalin both stepped back once it was working.<p>

"It's working," Brody informed from a console in the Engineering Control Room. "We're getting power to the F.T.L. drive. Countdown clock is back up," he said just in time to see the clock activate on the wall showing a two minute time till jump.

"Dr. Rush, it worked. F.T.L. is back up," Eli said happily into his radio. Volker and Brody both seemed to agree with his joy, glancing at the clock. "Do you have the calculation for the jump?"

* * *

><p>On the bridge, Nicholas Rush had taken his place in the center chair again, inputting the final information needed to plot an F.T.L. jump when Eli informed him of his success.<p>

"Yes Mr. Wallace. We're ready on this end," he stated plainly into his radio. Chloe sat at the navigation post in the front of the bridge and confirmed his calculations. She nodded to him that she was ready.

The bridge was extended out of the top of the ship, the stars gleaming through the three large windows in the front.

"Jump in three…" Rush started, pushing a set of buttons in a short sequence.

_Destiny_ began to shake slightly.

"…two…"

A loud humming permeated the ship, rumbling through all the walls and decks of the vessel.

"…one…"

From the bridge window, a blue cloud began to form at the bow of the ship, several lighter colored tendrils beginning to ripple around the ship.

"…jump."

The ship lurched forward, becoming entirely encompassed in the blue cloud that moved in waves around the hull, a moment of disorientation at the rapid acceleration as everyone's vision was slightly distorted as the ship continued on its journey.

* * *

><p>"What happened?" Young asked, suddenly in his own body in the Engineering Control Room with Wray, Brody, Volker, Kalin, and Eli.<p>

"Colonel?" Eli asked quickly.

"Yes, what happened?" he asked again.

"Um, we connected the generator and made the jump. We should reach the star in…"

"Everett!" General O'Neill shouted at him.

Young looked up to see the General standing right in front of him. He was back at Homeworld Command.

"Damn I hate that," Young muttered.

"Update me. Lee said they got the F.T.L. to work?" O'Neill asked.

Young looked to see Wray still by his side, just as disorientated as he was.

"Colonel?" O'Neill said urgently.

"Yes sir, Eli said they had made the jump," He settled back more comfortably into Lee's body, but his focus still back on the ship. "Sir, permission to return to _Destiny_."

"Granted. But Wray stays here for now," O'Neill answered.

"Sir?" Young asked, wrinkling his forehead.

"The IOA needs to have its own interview," O'Neill sighed. "Apparently my report isn't good enough for those sorry asses," He smirked.

Young nodded. The IOA just wanted to talk to its own people in privacy. Nothing new for them, though usually that meant some change-up for the crew.

* * *

><p>"Is the ship in one piece?" Young said to Rush, back on <em>Destiny<em> walking onto the bridge.

"For now, yes," Rush responded very calmly from a science terminal to the back of the bridge. He seemed heavily focused on his work, but that was the usual. "We should reach the star in less than five hours."

"That's good," Young remarked, looking around. The rest of the bridge was empty. Everyone else was either in the Infirmary getting checked up, the Mess Hall getting serving rations by Becker, or asleep in their quarters. "Maybe you should go rest for a little," Young suggested, but Rush ignored him.

Young figured he was still upset with the need to skip their previous galaxy. He needed to confront him about this.

"You know we did the right thing," Young said. He moved closer, leaning against the railing and avoiding staring into any of the hundreds of small lights around the bridge. "If we had stayed there, we would not have kept the drones at bay. The mission would have been a failure."

Rush looked away from his console and to Young. To the Colonel's surprise, he did not seem bothered by this at all.

"What is it?" Young asked, not sure what to expect.

"You were right," Rush said lightly, "and _Destiny_ seems to have understood the sacrifice, and, found a way around the problem."

Young was interested now. "What did you find?"

"Well I was right. _Destiny_ did need data from the path across the rest of the galaxy," Rush turned around in his chair back to the terminal and brought up a large file. "I started to look through the logs after we entered F.T.L., and _Destiny_ seems to have found a solution.

"When we were at Novus, we downloaded a large part of their database," Rush leaned back and looked at the whole of the bridge, as if though he were talking to it. "_Destiny_ was smart, and ran a program," indicating the file he had opened, "that analyzed that data. Large parts of it were astronomical readings, stellar observations, star charts. A map of the galaxy was stored in their computer, and all _Destiny_ had to do was get that information out of it," he smiled and looked the room up and down.

"So, everything did work out," Young stated. He was uplifted at the news that the mission was not interrupted, but not as much as Rush. "_Destiny_ came through for you."

Rush looked incredulously at Young. "Not just for _me_. For everyone! For everyone in the entire universe," He stood quickly and marched to the front window and pointed out into space. "Out there, are the answers to _every_ question we have ever asked! _Destiny_ is going to answer them, and it is for every living _thing_ out there! That is why this mission is so important," Rush said calmer, stepping back closer to the Colonel. "It isn't just for one person, or one species. The knowledge that _Destiny_ is trying to uncover will bring everything back to when we all began, and unite everything once and for all."

Young stood his ground, not taking his eyes off of Rush. He couldn't stand his conviction for the mission sometimes, but of all the things that he did, Rush could show his selflessness, his humanity, when he defended it.

* * *

><p>He lumbered out of the bridge slowly, leaving Rush standing alone.<p>

Major Brooks was still in Wray's body, sitting alone in the Observation Deck when Young approached her.

"Quite a view isn't it?" he asked, nodding his head at the clouds that wisped and curled around the ship.

She smiled but didn't look up. "I must have heard Telford describe it a bunch of times, but I never thought that I would ever actually live to see it," She couldn't seem to contain her joy too well.

Young stared out the window for a minute before glancing back to Brooks and taking a seat next to her.

"What is the IOA up to with Wray? Why isn't she back yet?" Young asked after a tense pause.

Brooks sat still for a moment. She finally peeled herself away from the clouds and turned to Young. "It's simple really. She knows the crew, and who is a prime choice for replacement," she said coolly.

"Replacement? What the hell do you mean?" he asked in confusion and disbelief.

She sighed and turned her whole body to face him. "The IOA wants to have a specialist placed on this crew from Earth with a permanent connection via the stones. Since Wray knows the psych profiles of the crew the best, she's going to recommend candidates for replacement on _Destiny_."

Young just stared at Brooks. In the silence she took up again.

"The IOA just wants to benefit the mission. The more able scientists are on the crew, the better for everyone," she said in a calm tone.

"And who is going to be replacing someone from the crew?" Young finally asked, fully knowing the answer.

Brooks smiled again and looked back to the window. "Me."

* * *

><p>"So it's permanent?" Park asked TJ.<p>

She heard the medic sigh and walk around the infirmary.

"I'm still not too sure," TJ said from the other side of the room. Park still couldn't track sounds too well. "I just wasn't trained much in these cases. Honestly, I did expect you to recover quickly if it was just flash-blindness."

Another sigh came from her side and she felt Volker take her hand into his.

"I'll still request an optometrist to visit _Destiny_ soon. Maybe he could give a better diagnosis, or even suggest a treatment," TJ said, not moving from where she spoke last time.

Park whimpered lightly, but tried to keep herself composed.

"Volker is helping me to check the database from Novus and the Ancient one for some help. They did have pretty advanced medicine in them," TJ added reassuringly. "I won't give up."

Park smiled and felt a tear slide down her cheek. "I know you won't."

She felt Volker take her arm gently and helped her walk out of the infirmary.

* * *

><p>"Just another few minutes and we'll be there," Brody announced from his station on the bridge.<p>

"We're cutting it rather close," Rush added, staring worriedly at the power level readout. "F.T.L. might not last long enough."

"Well it doesn't have to drop us right _in_ the star. In the solar system is close enough," Volker said.

Rush looked at Volker with a dark stare. "Like I said, it might not last long enough."

Young watched the scientists argue relentlessly from the center chair, not attempting to break them up.

"Did I miss anything?" Wray said, standing next to him, interested by the energy from the men.

"Camille," Young said with surprise. "You could have given some warning you were back."

She chuckled. "Yeah, well." She shrugged, but then got more serious. "Did Major Brooks tell you what the IOA wanted?"

Young looked straight at her and brought his voice to a whisper. "She did," He furrowed his brow and lowered it even more. "Who did they pick?"

Camille just shook her head. "I gave an honest report, but it's out of my hands now. I have no idea," she confessed.

Rush stared at the two, curious what they were talking about, but there were greater concerns. "Alright, were almost there. Ten seconds to normal space," he reported. The three scientists took up positions at one of the three forward stations and monitored readings.

"All main systems are powering down," Brody said.

"Shields are barely registering at seven percent," Rush added worriedly.

"Life-support just went down," Volker said, piling on the bad news.

"_Destiny _is scrounging ever single source of power it can to reach the star," Rush said. "It's not up to us anymore."

The ship echoed a slowing down of the F.T.L. drive, a light winding down, leading to a grinding re-entry to normal space as the blue clouds vanished to be replaced by the blinding light of a star up close.

"Report!" Young exclaimed.

"We're in the star!" Rush happily reported.

"Solar collectors are deploying," Volker said. "Power levels are rising."

Right on cue the lights across the bridge brightened as a humming began to flow through the ship as all the main systems returned on-line. All the computers activated and displayed massive amounts of information.

"Life-support is operational again. Shields are getting stronger. F.T.L. and sublight capabilities are both functional," Volker continued. "Just another few minutes until we're fully recharged," he said triumphantly, turning in his chair to Young.

"Looks like we get to live another day," Wray added coolly.

Rush was distracted from his happiness by a beeping emanating from his console. He stared at it and pressed several buttons in rapid succession, confirming the sensor readings.

"Colonel," he started with trepidation in his voice.

Young picked up on his concern, rose from his chair, and walked to his station. "What is it Rush?"

Rush just pointed to a blinking dot on the read-out of his console. "We're not alone here."

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. The crew's first encounter in their new galaxy is either their salvation, or worse then what they just escaped as they are placed in an unprecedented situation for them of being gods.<em>


	2. Worship

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_First of all, I want to give a big thank you to everyone that has read this so far, especially those who reviewed it! I really appreciate the support and desire you've shown to keep reading. It really makes it more fun to write these stories! A special thanks to Tori Hawkeye, for beta reading my episodes and convincing me to publish them (she passes her thanks onto my readers as well)!_

_Now, on to business. This is the second episode, and it's starting to get into the storyplot of the major arc. It's also first part for a planned three-episode arc, so it might start out kind of slow at first as it gets into the details. But I still hope that you really, really like it! Please please please review this because it really helps me keep going and nudges my work in the right direction!_

_For anyone who was wondering, I'm trying to publish regularly, and by that I mean once a week. Right now I've set on Sunday to be my date to release new episodes, but if that changes I'll let you know. My goal is still one whole season, and I hope to do more if I get enough support. I just really hope that you enjoy this!_

_(UPDATE): Thanks to malfoystinksstinks for sending me a link with a list of the expedition. I never thought to look for it before, and because of this I had to change a character's name. This doesn't change the episode in any crucial way, but I'll mark this update in the next episode as well so no one gets confused with a change of name._

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode "Reboot". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>302: Worship<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_Power to change things, control our fate, right the wrongs._

_To play God?_

_I want you to work with me, together, side by side, for the benefit of everyone._

_Well, it'd be a hell of a lot easier if you'd stop keeping secrets._

_I think it's fair to say we've had our differences, but that ends today._

_It would carry far more weight if you were standing alongside me._

_I can do that._

_Rush. Did we make it?_

Destiny_ is almost out of power, and there are no stars nearby._

_We looked everywhere. There's no sign of Eli._

_The 'Gate's dialing._

_Eli. Who is this?_

_He's a friend. His name is Kalin. He's from Novus._

_Sir I promise that when I return I will sit with him and try to get to know him._

_She knows the crew, and who is a prime choice for replacement._

_And who is going to be replacing someone from the crew?_

_Me._

_Didn't you say you brought power supplies with you?_

_Dr. Rush, it worked. F.T.L. is back up._

Destiny _came through for you._

_Not just for me. For everyone! Out there, are the answers to every question we have ever asked!_

_Solar collectors are deploying. Power levels are rising._

_What is it Rush?_

_We're not alone here."_

* * *

><p>"We're coming through on the other side! Main systems fully recharged," Volker said as the bright glow from the star began to dim as <em>Destiny<em> began to distance itself from it.

"Rush, talk to me," Young said, now back in his chair. "What's out there?"

"We're still too close to the star," he responded with a sigh. "There's too much radiation and solar interference for us to get a reading from here. All I can tell you is that there is _something_ out there," he said gesturing out into space.

Young quickly weighed his options mentally. "I take it an early jump is off the table?" he asked the three scientists.

"Yes, completely bad idea!" Volker said.

"We just exited F.T.L. a few minutes ago," Brody added. "We have to wait at least three hours, or this time we really will burn out the drive for good."

Young sat and sighed loudly seeming just tired of everything. "Alright," he finally said. He pulled his radio off his belt and raised it. "Eli, get up here to the bridge now."

"On my way Colonel," came the brief answer.

"And bring Chloe," he quickly added.

"Gotcha."

"Mr. Brody, deploy the main weapon and bring the rest of the platforms online. Divert as much power to shields as possible."

"Understood," Brody said, snapping to work on his station. Three monitors slowly swung down from the ceiling and displayed information to Young. The ship rumbled loudly as it passed through the opposite end of the star and began to move away from it.

"Lt. Scott. Deploy security teams throughout the ship, two man groups. Get the civilians into safe zones," Young said.

"Sir?" Scott inquired over the radio.

"Get it done, Lieutenant," Young quickly ordered.

"Yes, sir."

Wray just stood to Young's side, arms folded. She looked around helplessly having minimal training on the bridge. Sensing her apprehension, Young spoke up.

"Maybe you should head down to the infirmary. Help out TJ if it comes to it?" he suggested.

Wray warmed up a little at the news of that. "Yeah, I'll do that." She glanced at the front of the bridge and saw the scientists working to prepare the ship, and then walked out of the bridge. She bumped into Eli and Chloe, who were running into the bridge just as she walked out.

"Eli," Wray said. "I'm glad you made it." She smiled.

"Thanks, you too Camille," he returned and ran up to Young, Wray walking out quickly. "What's up Colonel?"

"We've got company," Young said, pointing at the left monitor which showed a blue dot in front of _Destiny_.

"Oh crap," Eli muttered. "I didn't think we'd find life in this galaxy this fast." He walked over to the science terminal on the side of the bridge and started to try to enhance the sensor readings of the strange ship.

"Yeah, I just hope we break the track record so far and meet some friends," Volker said quietly.

The light from the star was significantly dimmer now and, looking on the left monitor, Young could see _Destiny_ arcing away from the star quickly, the mysterious object right in their path.

"Can you get me more information, Rush?" Young asked.

Rush stared at his screen and tapped at a few buttons. "They're in orbit of the second planet. All I can tell is that we haven't met them before. I don't recognize the configuration. But there is something odd…" he trailed off.

"It's coming into visual range now," Brody added.

Everyone on the bridge just stared right out of the three large windows and squinted. Very far off, near a blue-silver planet, a silver dot larger than the stars in the background appeared and started to grow larger.

"Wait, this doesn't make sense," Brody said studying his monitor.

"There seems to be a lot of that going around, gentlemen," Young finally said in frustration. "One at a time, what is wrong?"

Brody went first. "I'm reading twenty-three 'Gates in range of us." He looked up and pointed to his monitor on the ceiling which indeed did show many Stargate indicators.

"What? But we've never seen more than five or six in one location!" Eli chirped in.

Chloe walked closer to the monitor and stared at some of the readouts. "Something is off about most of these 'Gates."

"Yeah, I noticed that too," Brody added, partly insulted she beat him to saying it.

"Look at the power readings from that ship," Volker said in awe. "They're the same as the…"

"Yes, yes. I see it too," Rush added quickly.

"Well someone please explain to me, 'cause I sure as hell don't," Young snapped at the room full of scientists and genii, leaning forward in his chair.

Rush sighed loudly and turned to face Young. "The power signature emanating from that ship," he said with a finger jabbed out into space, "is virtually identical to that of _Destiny_."

"Well how is that possible?" Young asked.

"Is it another seed ship?" Volker asked.

"No!" Rush said with aggravation. "I already said the dimensions are alien, and it doesn't resemble _Destiny_ at all." He sighed and looked back to his monitor. "And yet, according to these power readings, that ship out there… is an Ancient ship."

* * *

><p>Silence had fallen over the bridge. No one was even doing anything, just sitting waiting for the next order.<p>

"Alright," Young finally spoke up. "Eli." The boy turned quickly to attention. "Send out a greeting message in Ancient. See if they answer."

Eli nodded his head. "Right." The last time he did that to a ship they just found, they tried to take over the ship. He moved to a terminal on the other side of the bridge and typed out a brief message.

"There's just too many things here that don't make sense," Rush said in frustration.

Young swiveled to face him. "Well figure them out. We can't go anywhere yet, so I want to know what I'm dealing with."

"Um, Colonel?" Eli said suddenly.

Young got up and walked over to him, his boots clanking across the deck.

"What is it?"

Eli looked up with some concern. "They answered back… in Ancient."

"What did they say?"

Eli stared at the polygonal letters that formed Ancient and took a brief moment to translate it. "It says, 'Welcome, Lords of the Rings'."

Volker turned around in his chair with an expression of disbelief. "What in the world?"

Eli grinned. "Looks like we found Middle Earth."

"Really?" was Brody's short comment. Eli just shrugged.

"No," Chloe said, ignoring Eli's statement, "I think they mean the Stargate," she said, her archaeological side moved to the foreground now. "That almost sounds like they've created a religion around the Stargate itself. It's not uncommon for cultures to take artifacts left by a previous civilization as sacred items." Her eyes widened and she looked back up to the monitor marking the 'Gates in range. "Of course!" She turned back to face Young. "Religious sites are often built by that culture wherever they go."

"Are you suggesting that these aliens _built_ more Stargates?" Volker said, shock and amazement creeping through his voice.

"Actually, yes," she said easily, turning back to the front. "They seem to be advanced enough for space travel, so maybe they could have reverse engineered the 'Gate on their world and spread them to others. That would account for why most of the 'Gates we're reading are giving of strange signatures," she concluded.

Young turned his gaze to Rush. "Is that possible?"

Rush just scoffed. "Of course it's possible to build more Stargates. They were built in the first place. But it must suggest an incredible understanding of the technology behind it, more than we've managed to get." He stared back out to the ship that was now starting to get larger. "The knowledge they have could be invaluable."

"Are you _actually_ considering contacting them?" Volker asked his voice almost angry now. "The last time we investigated aliens that _could_ have 'invaluable' technology we got stuck in this mess!"

"I think we're safer here," Chloe chipped in. "They seem to use Ancient technology, so I doubt they'd attack."

Volker just sighed and turned back to his station. "No one listens to me," he muttered.

"Colonel," Eli spoke up, leaning in from the communication terminal. "_Should_ I respond?" he asked.

Young stared out through the center window. The ship was getting bigger in the view now, and he could make out the features of the ship. The design was clearly not Ancient, at least not from the _Destiny_-style. The _Destiny_ was moving towards it, but the ship was showing what seemed to be its starboard side to _Destiny_. From this angle it could be seen that the ship from bow to stern was very long and elongated. The side of the ship was spotted with hundreds of viewports, light emitting from them. The hull itself seemed smooth, devoid of the many conduits and systems that bumped up along the _Destiny_'s hull. About halfway down the ship there was a large cylindrical area that jutted out from the ship and that greatly resembled a ring. The ship slowly began to turn to face _Destiny_, and on doing so it revealed bright lights across the front that looked just like the constellations on a Stargate. That seemed to prove these aliens had an obsession with the Stargate.

"Colonel, they're heading straight for us," Brody warned. He held his finger steadily over the controls that would activate the ship's superior weapons.

"What should we do?" Eli asked Young, tension growing quickly among the occupants of the bridge.

Young wasn't sure, but he knew that they were stuck here for almost another three hours, and he didn't want to spend any of that time fighting. "Eli, respond to them. Tell them that we come in peace, and ask who they are."

Eli nodded lightly and his fingers flew over the controls.

"Rush, what do you think?" Young said, returning his gaze to the scientist.

Rush sat leaning back, his hand resting on his chin, his eyes glued to the monitor. "These readings are similar to _Destiny_'s power signature, yes. But they do have their own variances." He turned in his chair to face the center of the room. "My best guess is they… mimicked Ancient technology, probably from the Stargate itself."

A beep from the back of the room kept Young from asking more questions.

"They answered back," Eli said, quickly interpreting the message. "It says… 'We are the Portan Nati, Children of the Rings, and we peacefully bid you to your home', and there's a set of 'Gate coordinates with it. It looks like it's a star system twelve light-years away."

"Oh my God," Chloe said.

"What is it?" Young quickly turned to see Chloe's face in surprise, her mouth hanging open.

"They think we're their gods!" she said.

Rush looked interestingly at her. Young loosened up slightly, now feeling a little safer about these aliens. Volker looked incredulously around the room.

"Hmm. I've never been a god before," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, you're the god of crappy statements," Brody insinuated without looking up from his console. Volker just glared at him.

"It can't hurt to accept their invitation," Rush finally said, standing from his console and walking to Young. "And besides, they seem to have advanced technology, and we _do_ have a ship in need of repairs." He looked back out onto the ship that couldn't be more than a few kilometers from the bow of _Destiny_. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind aiding their gods." With that he walked up the couple of stairs and stalked out of the bridge.

* * *

><p>"I'd love to see the look on Caine's face right now, if he was still here, him being called a god!" Doctor Morrison said, smirking while leaning against the railing in the Observation Deck. "He'd probably blow a fuse and try to convert those aliens out there," he said to Wray, staring at the ship that now could be seen quite clearly. News travelled quickly on a ship of eighty people. Once Wray realized she had no purpose in the Infirmary, she joined the crowd that had formed in the Observation Deck that was trying to get a view of the alien ship.<p>

"I'm sure there's a reason for them thinking this," Wray said, leaning her elbows on the railing in the front of the room. "I'm just happy they don't want to blow us to bits for once."

Morrison just nodded.

"Well, I suppose I can say that I know how they feel," Kalin spoke up, suddenly at Wray's side. Morrison leaned forward and stared darkly at the newcomer to the ship. "There were quite a few of us from our people who looked on you as… something more than just people." He smiled as he looked admirably at Wray. "You were considered one of the greatest leaders our people ever knew."

"Right after Young I'd bet," she said with a grin.

He chuckled. "Perhaps." He stared out at the ship for a moment. Morrison groaned aloud and walked away, leaving Wray and Kalin alone. He turned slightly to look at Wray. "I heard that you wanted to speak with me."

Wray sighed and looked at him. "Our leadership on Earth is… skeptical," she said carefully, "about the Colonel's decision to incorporate you with the crew so quickly." Kalin only nodded, some of his happiness draining. "They just want me to speak with you. I think if I agree with him, they'll be more ready to trust you," she added reassuringly.

He stood straight and looked seriously at Wray. "You are known by our people as a capable judge of character and a righteous person. I am sure that you will come to the right decision," he said confidently.

"You seem to know a lot about us," Wray said, resting one elbow on the railing.

His smile returned and his gaze turned upward. "I must have watched the Kino archives of your generation…" he paused and thought, "hundreds of times. I know the stories behind all of your people, and I always admired the mission you sought to unfold." Looking around the room and out through the window across the ship, he smiled even wider. "But never did I ever realistically think that I might one day become a part of it."

Wray smiled with him. "I've noticed that you don't seem to have some, prejudices I noticed in others of your people." He frowned at her at this statement. She hesitated and clarified. "The group we found came from Tamara, the nation that followed Young. We noticed that most of them held Rush and his followers in some contempt."

He laughed a little. "Ah, yes. I know of what you speak." He waved his hand though, dismissing the idea. "However, those issues were mostly resolved before my generation. We had more pressing concerns with the disruptions we experienced on our home. We learned to blend to two nations well, to work together." His smiles faded slightly. "Unfortunately, it might have come too late. We evacuated through the Stargate before it was lost, and our ships removed many, but we could have done more in the first place." He looked back out the window in some disappointment.

Wray acknowledged him with a nod and turned to look out of the window with him.

"Camille, this is Young," blared Wray's radio strapped to her belt.

She pulled it off and responded. "Wray here. Is everything alright Colonel?"

Static filled the air for a moment. "Yes. Meet me in the Gate Room now."

"Colonel?" she asked, frowning.

"I'll explain when you're here. Young out."

She put her radio back where it was, and turned to Kalin. "Well, it was good talking with you." She started to walk off but Kalin stopped her.

"Wait!" he called back. She stopped and turned to him. "When will you evaluate me, for your leadership?"

She smiled at him and walked up to him. "I just did. I'm glad to say you passed."

She walked out leaving Kalin smiling to himself. He moved to a chair and sat down, feeling proud and amazed inside at the incredible opportunity he just had opened to him.

* * *

><p>"What's going on here?" Wray asked as she walked onto the mezzanine in the Gate Room. Below her she saw Chloe, Eli, and James geared up and ready for 'Gate travel. Rush and Young were standing near them.<p>

Rush looked up at her. "We're accepting an invitation." He looked back down and moved to the dialing terminal and started to dial the Stargate.

As the 'Gate began to spin noisily in the middle of the room, Wray descended the spiral stairs. "Exactly where are we going?"

"To the aliens' Homeworld," Chloe answered, helped Eli clip his backpack on.

Wray looked surprised and gave a disapproving look to Young who spoke first.

"You're going with them," he said frankly, not letting her even argue his decision.

"Are you sure it's safe to go?" she still asked, determined.

"No, we're not sure," he answered honestly.

"But we'd need to go anyways," Rush threw in, dialing the fifth chevron.

Wray looked at him inquisitively. "And why is that?"

"Because," Eli said, activating a Kino with a remote, "the Seed Ship telemetry says this planet is full of raw materials and edible plant life."

"And right now, we have a ship in need of repairs and a crew to feed," Rush concluded, locking the point of origin and activating the Stargate. The vortex rushed out and quickly settled back into a stable wormhole. The Gate Room was filled with a bright silver shimmer.

Wray didn't have anything she could think of to argue that, especially as she was feeling her own stomach complain at the rations she had to eat. Young handed her a bag and she somewhat reluctantly accepted it.

"Send the Kino," Young told to Eli. The young boy nodded and with the push of a few buttons sent the buzzing device rippling through the wormhole. Static was heard from both the remote and the terminal Rush stood at before the Kino came out on the other side. The image that they saw was the last thing they expected.

"Holy crap! Those are humans!" Eli shouted staring at his remote screen. Indeed it showed three humans standing in a brightly light antechamber that was built in an Ancient style of the _Destiny_-era.

"Huh," was Rush's only reaction, the mildest of all the others in the room.

"What?" Young asked, knowing that probably meant he was keeping something secret.

"Hm? Nothing," Rush said. Young continued to stare at him. Rush relented. "It's just a hunch. I'll need to read up on some of the database to be sure." Young surrendered realizing this was the best he was going to get from him.

"What's he doing?" Eli said suddenly. On the screen the foremost human was holding out a small device, an L-shaped, light colored piece of metal with several red and yellow lights on it.

"Colonel," Rush said worriedly, "do you see this too?"

Young nodded his head carefully, and slowly turned his gaze to the forehead of the man holding the device, dreading what he would find. He was sadly correct. A similar device was attached to his temple, glowing yellow and red as well. He heard a slight whimper come from Chloe as she also recognized it.

"They're here," were her only words.

Eli, James, and Wray all looked up somewhat confused.

"What is it Colonel?" Wray asked worried.

Only three of _Destiny_'s crew had actually seen this device before.

"How can this be? We left them behind." Young said urgently.

"Yeah, that's what we thought in the last galaxy," Rush said almost painfully. "They followed us again." He put his face in his hands for a second and then quickly straightened back up.

Eli glanced at all three of the distraught people and then seemed to get it. "Wait a second. Are you saying that this is from the aliens that kidnapped Chloe?"

Chloe just stood there and nodded her head slightly.

"They used it for transmission of thoughts, I imagine either for communication," Rush said with a glimpse back to Young, "or for interrogation."

"Maybe now we should reconsider?" Wray said, returning to her original argument. Chloe looked positively shaken, Rush seemed curious, and Young almost seemed angry.

Young looked to Wray and easily gave in. "Shut it down," he said to Rush.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Colonel," Rush said, leaning his arms on the edges of the console.

Young was losing his patience. "These aliens followed us across galaxies and have attacked us— "

"And they followed _Destiny_ for years before we came aboard—" Rush yelled over him.

"They took you and Chloe hostage and experimented on her—"

"Those people are human! That's not the aliens we met—"

"It's their technology, Rush! This means they were here, and they can be back!" Young shouted back, attacking Rush's arguments. "We are vulnerable and can't stay here—"

"Which is exactly _why_ we need to get supplies and repair the ship—"

"Forget the damn ship for one minute!"

"This ship is the only reason they are after us!" he shouted shoving a finger at Young's face. "_Destiny_ has to be prepared to defend itself against them, and our chance is right through there!" he shouted right in Young's face, pointing his finger into the wormhole.

"Enough!" Wray shouted, ending their argument early. Eli and James had not moved this whole time, not too sure what to do. She sighed and turned to Rush. "You're positive this is their technology?"

Rush fumed another moment in Young's face before turning back to look at the terminal. "It's almost identical to what I saw on their ship," he admitted.

"Almost?" she asked.

Rush looked up in exasperation. "They would come in pairs, one to transmit and one to receive, denoted by different colors on them." He calmed down and pointed at the device that the man was still patiently holding up to the Kino. "The one on his head and the one he is holding seem to be the same."

"Could they transmit and receive?" Eli suggested. Rush looked at him and Eli turned to Chloe. "You said they mimicked the Stargate technology. Could they have done that with the alien's tech?"

Chloe still looked out of sorts, but composed herself to answer. "Yes, it's possible they combined them."

"Well that doesn't matter." Young said. "That still means they would need to have gotten the technology in the first place, and the only way is if they encountered the aliens."

"Well somehow, Colonel, I think these people wouldn't be standing here if the aliens had killed them," Rush added validly.

"You're suggesting they destroyed the aliens?" Young asked. He knew it was possible, but _Destiny_ had yet to do that on its own.

"Yes, and then modified the technology they found." Rush said folding his arms. "This brings me back to my original statement that these people are technologically advanced and can help us."

Young stood still now, overwhelmed by all of these realizations and speculations. He still had to make a choice, and, with _Destiny_'s current status, he did see merit in Rush's proposal. He turned to Chloe first. She seemed to be better than before, but still disconcerted as Eli was holding onto her shoulder. "Are you okay with this?" he asked her quietly.

She breathed in and nodded her head. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, what Rush said seems possible."

Young stared at her for a moment and then sighed. "Very well. Go, but take Greer and Scott too. I'll want more firepower just in case." Rush scoffed slightly at that. Young ignored him and pulled his radio off of his belt. "Lt. Scott, Greer, report to the Gate Room. Gear up for travel."

"Yes sir," Scott said first.

"Copy that," Greer responded a second later.

Young replaced his radio. "Wait for them, then go. I need to report in to Earth again."

"I'll go with you," Rush asserted quickly. Young stopped and looked at him. "I have to look something up on Earth."

Young scrutinized his face. Rush had something hidden, but Young just wasn't in the mood to force him out of it. "Fine."

"No," Wray said strongly surprising both men. She sighed and turned to Young. "IOA was strict about it. Tabitha is to report to Earth to them." Tabitha Ryder was a low-level geologist from the crew, which meant she wasn't a priority for the stones, but Young understood the urgency in her expression. Rush gazed at her, and was trying to piece things together from what he heard on the bridge. He knew he wasn't the only one keeping a secret.

Young turned back to Rush. "Next time."

He nodded his head slowly, and without delay lumbered off through the door between the rails and down the corridor. He passed Scott and Greer as they walked in. Scott nodded to Young.

"Colonel," he said.

"You two are going with them to the planet," Young ordered. "Be careful. We have reason to believe the aliens who kidnapped Chloe may have been there."

It was Scott's turn to look shocked. "Sir, is it a good idea to…"

"We've already had this discussion," he said impatiently. "Go. Regular updates on the hour."

Scott nodded and hugged his rifle closer to him, all the while looking at Chloe.

"Rush gave me a list of materials we should keep an eye out for," Eli chipped in.

"Those supplies and any food you can find are your priorities." He stepped back and indicated he was done talking.

James walked up to the Stargate and was the first to go through, closely followed by Greer. Wray slowly walked up and hesitantly passed through the event horizon. Chloe was escorted through by Scott on her left and Eli on her right.

They all arrived on the other 'Gate, barely dizzied by the 'Gate travel. Greer and James were standing defensively in front of the other four, keeping their weapons lowered but ready for anything. The Kino was hovering over the bottom of the 'Gate ramp right in front of the human that they saw from the feed. Behind him there were three others in a similar dark grey uniform as his, and none of them had any visible weaponry. One of the men walked up to Greer and James and held out his hand, showing several of the devices that the man in front of the Kino had as well. He offered one to James.

"Sir?" James asked tentatively to Scott behind her.

He looked to Chloe and she nodded to him. "It's safe," she added softly.

James slowly reached out and took one of the devices from the man, and carefully put it on her temple the same way it rested on the man's. As soon as she put it on she scrunched her face up and held her head in pain.

Greer quickly reacted and raised his weapon, but in another second James took her hands off. "It's okay! It's okay!" she yelled at Greer, straightening up and beckoning Greer to lower his weapon. The man just looked hard at James, and she acted as if she understood something. "It's safe, really," she said, turning back to Scott. She smiled a little. "It's actually kind of amazing, sir."

Greer refused the device offered to him. He still didn't trust this technology and he wasn't going to jump to use it. Scott put on a 'well what the hell' face and walked up to the man and gingerly picked up another device. He lightly shook it and stuck it on his head. Prepared for some pain he didn't react much to it as James, and then looked up quickly in amazement. Next Eli walked up grabbed a device and put it on, reacting in much the same way as Scott. They all just looked from each other to the other humans without speaking. Greer lightly groaned and then conceded, accepting the device and placing it on his temple with no reaction.

Before anything else could happen, Scott's radio went off.

"Lt. Scott," Young said over the radio, "is everything okay on your end?"

Scott still seemed somewhat taken aback by the devices they were using and the people that were standing in front of them, but he quickly grabbed his radio on this harness. "Yes sir. We've made contact with the Nati."

"You have?" he asked dubiously. The Kino turned around to face Scott to indicate that Young had been watching them, and to his knowledge nothing happened. Scott just laughed a little.

"Yes, Colonel," Wray chipped in. "Rush was right. The devices are used for communication."

"Yeah! It's like some kind of universal translator," Eli said excitedly.

"Alright. We'll dial in every hour for a report. Young out," Young said.

Right after that, the Stargate shut down and spun to return the point of origin to the top position. Chloe had barely moved away from the Stargate this whole time, and still stood there frozen. She saw her friends wearing these devices, and it brought a flash of memories to her. Cold. Wet. Dark. Probes. Needles. Pain. Fear. She unconsciously took a step back. Scott noticed and walked to her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked softly.

Seeing him care for her, and the others not be afraid of the device lifted her spirits. She had already broken her fear of them once and willingly gone with them. Now she just had to brave up a little. She nodded her head, and walked past Scott right to the alien holding the devices. She took in a deep breath and picked one up and put it on.

A quick jolt of pain went through her head and she bit down on her lip not to make a sound. It quickly passed and was replaced with a voice.

"Welcome to our world. I am Tarym, one of the leading council members here."

She unconsciously turned to look to the man that she had taken the device from. She had heard his voice in her head.

"How?" she mouthed, surprised.

"When I speak, my mind unconsciously thinks of associations to the words that I say. These associations are universal across language barriers, and this device transmits it to you. Then your device reverses the process, using your own associations to recall the correct words in your language," the voice said. The man looked kind and smiled as he said this.

"It's actually really cool," Eli said out loud. It felt a bit strange, hearing a voice in your head and then in reality. The next second something clicked in Eli's head, and as he spoke to her again. "Wait, didn't you say they see us as gods?" Chloe just nodded slightly. "Well then, pardon me for hoping that their definition of god was all-knowing and all-powerful. Why the translators?" The question fell on Chloe uneasily.

Tarym chuckled, his voice echoing in their head. "We have known our gods were that of flesh and blood. We suspected your language was different."

"I'm sorry. I don't understand," Eli said.

"The gods created us from the earth, but not of any magic. They were great scientists and used their knowledge to make man in their image. We have long awaited their return to our people so they might join us in our lives," Tarym said. He looked to the Kino and then the Stargate. "You gave us all of this technology and blessed our lives with your love. Anything that we can do for you, we wish to."

"That rings a bell," Eli said. "But how do you know all of this? I mean are there writings, or was there some hologram of an old wizard talking about a sword?" he added jokingly. Greer looked at him grimly. "What? I read mission reports."

"The throne of knowledge taught us everything, from the language of the Lords, to the mastery of their technology."

Eli lost his happy expression and turned somewhat more serious. "Okay, now that _really_ rings a bell." Everyone turned to face him. "That sounds a lot like the Neural Interface Chair onboard _Destiny_."

"I'm sorry," Wray suddenly spoke up. "We've been alone for some long it seems we've lost some diplomacy." She walked up to Tarym and held out a hand. "I'm Camille Wary, and on behalf of the crew of the _Destiny_, we're pleased to meet you."

* * *

><p>"Okay, be careful!" Brody shouted to Volker. "Those controls are sensitive!"<p>

"I'm not controlling it! It's preprogrammed to repair the damage," Volker said. After they exited F.T.L. they launched the robot to repair exterior damage, but right now the robot was acting up and doing more damage than repair.

"Yeah? Well who programmed it?" Brody accused. Volker glared silently from his console.

"Well at least it didn't rupture the plasma conduit," Volker said in defense. There was a slight rumble felt in the Control Interface Room and the lights quickly flickered before reestablishing. "What was that?"

"The plasma conduit ruptured," Brody said flatly, staring darkly at Volker. The latter just slumped in his chair in defeat. "You know, you could help us program this better," Brody said to the third scientist sitting in the room working at his own terminal. Rush just completely ignored him and kept doing his work.

Loud resounding footsteps entered the room as Young walked in. "What was that?" he asked.

"Um… conduit rupture," Brody said. "Nothing serious. Power flow was rerouted," he added defensively. "Some repairs to exterior damage aren't going quite smoothly."

"Well I'm sure there's something you could be fixing _inside_ the ship," Young said, moving near the core, arms crossed in front, staring at Brody. He looked severe now, like he had unfinished business.

"Um, yeah. Plenty of systems are still down that we never fixed in the other galaxy," Brody answered quickly, some hesitation as he was trying to read the Colonel.

"Good, go take care of them," Young said.

"Colonel?" Volker questioned.

"Go. Now," he said sharply and turned to face Rush. He didn't say anything more. Brody and Volker exchanged looks. They set the repair robot to autopilot and quickly vacated the room.

Young stepped up closer to the console where Rush was working and just stood there. Rush didn't look up for a few moments, but with a heavy sigh finally acknowledged his presence. "I thought you had to go to Earth," he said annoyingly.

"Dr. Ryder complained of a dizzy spell so TJ is giving her a check-up. I'm waiting for her," Young said plainly. "_We_ never finished our conversation."

"I didn't know we had started one," Rush threw back.

Young looked straight at Rush and looked angry. "You told me you wanted me by your side for this mission, and I agreed. Now I want you to do the same with me. Tell me what you know."

Rush sat still in his chair for a moment, but soon surrendered. "I always suspected it really, that they would do it somewhere else," he started. He sat straighter in his seat and pushed several buttons on his console. The holographic display came up and Young turned to face it. It showed a long list of logs. "We are the second evolution that exists in this human body. The Ancients were first, and with their technology, they created us. They did this in the Milky Way and Pegasus where they lived," he continued, "and it made sense that they would do it somewhere else too."

"So you're saying that they really are humans?" Young asked, looking back with disbelief at the scientist.

Rush pushed another few buttons and one particular log was expanded. "This is what the Seed Ship database sent to _Destiny_ about this planet. The information is massive compared to what we've received about other planets. It would seem that the Seed Ship did more than just leave a Stargate on this world. It _actually_ created life, and left behind Ancient technology, including a Neural Interface Chair." He sat back and crossed his arms, staring with an expression of sheer amazement at the display. "They truly are the children of the Ancients, parents left behind billions of light-years away. The only question is, why here?"

Young stared at the display and was mentally replaying each scenario where Rush had put the crew at risk by keeping some secret. Truthfully this didn't seem to be that bad on Rush's list. Which begged the question, "Why didn't you just tell me?" Young asked looked disappointedly at Rush.

Rush's face bore little to no expression anymore. "I wanted to check." He pressed yet another set of buttons and highlighted one set of information in the database. "There's a large amount of information stored on the Ancient database on the planet."

Young just stared back incredulously. "You were worried I wouldn't let you download it if you told me? Is that it?" he said, raising his voice.

Rush rose from his chair and walked to the hologram. "Well, would you have?" He turned quickly to face the Colonel. "I don't know if the information helps _Destiny_'s mission; it wouldn't get the supplies from people on that planet; in fact they might be _against_ us downloading their database. I didn't know how to ask you without you," he paused, "saying my motives were selfish," he finished.

Young looked in a mix of emotions. His face showed restrained anger, confusion, and failure.

"You really believe it, don't you?" he finally said. Rush stared at him from the hologram. "What Chloe said, that these people think we are their gods? You actually believe it, and you think you can do anything you want."

Rush licked his lips and stared off for a second before looking back with determination. "The structure this ship is searching for would contain knowledge," he started calmly, "power even, that most people would call _god_-like. So yeah, who's to say that we aren't becoming closer and closer to that as we continue this mission?" he said with as much strength as he could.

Young's insides continued to be torn by emotion. He thought that he had worked out an understanding with this man, and believed that for the most part he _understood_ him, but at every turn he seemed to be proven wrong. His radio went off before he could say anything.

"Colonel Young, this is Dr. Ryder," a weak voice said. "I'm done with Lt. Johansen and am waiting in the Communication Room."

Young stood for a second and then lumbered off a few feet away from Rush towards one of the thresholds. He looked up and observed the countdown clock which was steadily ticking down from eight hours. Sadly the shipful of scientists had yet to figure out how to control it. He grabbed his radio and answered it. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Wait for me." He turned his radio off and put it back on his belt. He slowly turned to face Rush, his gaze down at the floor. He settled on failure and disappointment as his emotion. "I stood by your side." He looked up to Rush. "I stood by your side. I committed myself to _Destiny_'s mission. All I asked is that you stay honest with me," he begged calmly, but didn't pursue it. He sighed and gazed flatly at Rush. "I guess you were right. We'll never be done," he said almost threateningly, repeating Rush's words from early on in the mission and storming out of the room.

* * *

><p>"Okay, now this is <em>definitely <em>Ancient architecture," Eli said as he walked into a room similar to _Destiny_'s Neural Interface Room, with an identical chair placed in the center. The room was just off of the Gate Room, which was apparently part of a large facility, all created by the Ancients. Eli walked in and gestured to the console. "Do you mind if I take a look?" he asked Tarym.

Tarym looked slightly confused by his need to ask and motioned him to do as he pleased. Eli smiled and dashed over to the console.

"Be careful around this thing, Eli," Scott warned.

Eli took a few seconds to study it and then responded. "This isn't a problem. It contains much less information than the chair on _Destiny_. Not enough to fry a mind like mine," he said with a grin. "And relax. I won't sit in the thing."

As Eli started to poke around the systems, Chloe stepped over to help him and Scott just hovered over the both of them. Greer and James stood at the doorway and Wray approached Tarym.

"Your people have gone far, Tarym. You should be proud of what you've done," she started, trying to make sure she said only good things that could create and maintain a good relation with them.

Tarym smiled at her and looked very pleased. "We used everything that we had at our disposal that was left to us. Your technology helped us go this far."

Wray returned the smile. "I realize this is blunt, but we could use some help of our own."

Tarym's smile grew larger. "Anything that we can do to help, we would do gladly."

Wray was content with herself. "Eli, give me the list of supplies Rush wanted." Eli handed her a remote that contained a large file. She quickly gazed at it and handed it to Tarym who eagerly took it. "_Destiny_ suffered heavy damage recently, and your world has resources that could aid us immensely in repairing it. We're also low on food and water, if it's not too much to ask."

"Of course," Tarym said, reading through the list. "I can have most of these items sent through the Ring within the hour."

"That's wonderful news. The sooner the better."

"But I wish to ask, why the rush?" he asked furrowing his brow.

That stopped everyone in their tracks. No one could think an appropriate answer, but Wray tried to answer it as best as she could. "We have a long way to go, and we're on a strict timetable."

Tarym looked satisfied but disappointed. Regardless, he handed the pad to one of his lowers who ran off. "I'm so sorry to hear that. My people have been waiting so long to meet our creators, and now, to have them leave so soon," he sighed. "It will be difficult."

Wray walked up closer to Tarym. "Well I for one am glad that we met, even if it is for a short time."

This short statement seemed to make Tarym happy. In his mind, he felt a lifelong desire being answered, and he could not ask for anything more at this point. He quickly shook off his feelings and returned to the conversation. "We can begin sending your supplies very soon. I assure you, there are many among us who would relish the chance to help bring the supplies over and to see your ship."

"We'd appreciate the help," Wray returned gently.

Tarym smiled again and walked out of the room, heading back to the Stargate.

"We'll he's friendly," Eli chimed in.

"Yeah, maybe a little _too _friendly?" Greer asked.

* * *

><p>Tabitha Ryder was sitting patiently at the stones waiting for Colonel Young. She was nervous. Under normal circumstances it was hard for her to get a spot for the stones, and she had family back on Earth that she liked visiting, and now out of the blue she was being told to go to Earth. She knew that something strange had to be up, but she didn't really care. She just wanted every second she could take off of this ship.<p>

Young walked in loudly and quickly took a seat next to her. Corporal Barnes looked up from her laptop and acknowledged him. He looked angry for a moment, but composed himself. He looked up to Ryder and picked up his respective stone. "Are you ready?"

She nodded lightly. He gently placed his stone on an empty slot of the device and closed his eyes. Ryder did the same.

A second later, both people opened their eyes and looked around.

"Major Brooks?" Barnes questioned to the woman.

She nodded lightly. "Yes. I'm here with Dr. Lee again," she said nodding to Young's body. "General O'Neill wants him to lend a hand in repairs."

"Yes sir," Barnes answered firmly, entering in some data to the laptop.

Brooks nodded. "I need to speak to Camille Wray."

Barnes looked up. "I'm sorry ma'am; she's not on the ship right now." Brooks gazed sharply at the Corporal. "I'll take you both to the Control Interface Room. Someone there should be able to fill in the blanks." Barnes got up and escorted them out of the room.

They quietly walked down the long hallways, pipes exposed along both sides and the ceiling. They didn't pass anyone on their way down, but with such a large ship and only eighty people that wasn't uncommon. They found only one person in the Control Interface Room when they got there.

"Dr. Rush," Brooks said callously when she walked in. Rush looked up from his console and looked inquisitively at her.

"Major Brooks?" he guessed. She nodded in response.

"I brought Dr. Lee to help with repairs," she added.

Rush nodded and grabbed his radio that was resting atop the console. "Mr. Brody, Dr. Lee is here from Earth. Please keep him busy," he said tiredly.

"Copy that. We're working on the damaged sensor array now," crackled Brody's response.

Rush looked at Lee. "There you go."

"Right," Lee said hesitantly. He turned to go and then looked back. "Where is that?"

Rush sighed impatiently. "Corporal, would you please escort him?" She nodded and led him down the hall. Brooks stayed under the threshold to the room and stared seriously at him. He didn't ignore her look. "Can I _help_ you, Major?"

"Fill me in. What's going on?" she said urgently, a cold tone in her voice.

Rush looked down to his console as it beeped. He stood from his seat, grabbed his radio and began to walk out of the room. "Come with me," he added with a sigh as he was leaving. She didn't hesitate in following him, quickly catching up with him. They walked in silence as he led them to the Gate Room where the Stargate was already spinning. A few soldiers were standing ready at attention. Brooks looked worriedly at Rush. Catching her glance he allayed her fears. "It's our team dialing in from the planet."

As he said that the connection was established and the wormhole stabilized. He stood by the terminal as the Kino feed come on.

"_Destiny_ this is Wray," she said over the Kino.

"This is Rush, go ahead," he answered on the radio.

"We've established a dialogue with the Nati and they've more than willingly agreed to give us supplies," she said, a happy tone lining her voice. "They're going to start to bring supplies over now."

"Understood," Rush said, somewhat pleased as he looked up to see the first person walk through the wormhole carrying a large container. "I'll get Mr. Brody and Volker to sort out the supplies and start using them."

"Good. Eli found a chair here on the planet. He and Chloe are studying it, and I've gotten a chance to speak to one of the leaders here."

"Well wrap it up there, Wray," Brooks suddenly spoke up.

"I'm sorry?" Wray responded in surprise.

"I'm Major Brooks." Wray blinked and changed from surprise to understanding. "I need to speak with you. Come back to the ship before the 'Gate shuts down."

Wray nodded in disappointment, but didn't argue her. "Understood. Wray out."

By now the Gate Room was filling with many people and dozens of containers. Rush grabbed his radio again. "Mr. Brody, meet me in the Gate Room please. We've received some supplies to help with repairs."

There was a short pause before the response came. "Copy that."

"Well," Rush said, placing his radio on the top of the console and walking to the nearest container, "let's see what we've got here." He pulled the container open and looked at its components. There were piles of Ancient technology in here, brand new and gleaming. They looked exactly like components that lined all the systems of _Destiny_, except they weren't burned out like half of the ship's counterparts were. Rush picked one up and admired it.

At that point the Gate Room was getting crowded with the supplies as people kept flooding through the Stargate. A minute later, Wray walked through and the 'Gate shut off behind her. She looked around to see all of the containers filling the room and seemed a bit surprised. She walked up to Rush who was still inspecting the supplies.

"Rush, dial the 'Gate and send them back for the next run," she said.

He looked at her with an expression that betrayed his satisfaction at the success of the mission and walked to the terminal. The 'Gate was spinning again before too long. Major Brooks approached Wray through the maze that was the Gate Room due to all of the containers.

"We need to talk," she said quietly to her. Wray nodded as the room was again filled with the bright light of the Stargate. She looked at the people that had brought the supplies over and saw them off through the 'Gate before she acknowledged Brooks.

They turned to watch Brody, Volker, and Lee arrive. They joined Rush in inspecting the supplies, and Volker especially showed excitement in seeing the equipment they had long been in need of.

"These are the exact components that we've needed!" Volker exclaimed. "We can probably get the shields and weapons working at full capability with these. I guess they really do use Ancient technology."

"Well why don't you go get started?" Rush said, trying to curb his excitement. Volker didn't let Rush's grimmer mood ruin his, and he happily helped Brody carry a large container with parts out of the room.

"Dr. Rush!" someone called from the other side of the Gate Room. "These containers here are filled with food and water."

Rush walked over to inspect it. He nodded when he saw several large boxes filled with water jugs, fruits, and vegetables. "Good, take those down to the Mess. We can probably grow some more on our own in Hydroponics with the seeds." Rush walked back over to the containers with equipment and examined the supplies.

"So how long are you staying this time?" Wray asked suddenly. Brooks just stared at her. Wray walked up the spiral staircase and situated herself on the mezzanine, watching over the room without letting anyone else hear her. Brooks followed her. "They made it seem Tabitha would be the one to replace, but they didn't confirm it either."

More of the crew walked in and began carrying off the supplies to the compartments Rush told them it needed to go to. She stood straight and looked to face Wray. "Consider this your confirmation."

* * *

><p>Chloe leaned against the wall as Eli was still experimenting on the Chair's systems. She watched him work, but was constantly distracted whenever she saw the device glowing on his temple. She couldn't get rid of the feeling that they weren't quite safe here. She knew that these people weren't the aliens, but some fears go deep. She turned to gaze into the Gate Room as Wray stepped through the Stargate, and watched it disengage the next moment. She noticed Tarym standing at the bottom of the ramp and she walked up to him.<p>

"Tarym," she said, getting his attention, "I'm sorry to ask, but," she hesitated, "where did you get this device?" she asked, touching the device on her temple.

He smiled and turned to her. "Come with me." He walked off down a door at the other end of the room and continued through a short corridor before reaching a room much like the Control Interface Room. He walked to one of the consoles and activated a holographic display. "Two years ago, we encountered these ships." The ship displayed was from the aliens that had kidnapped her. She cringed slightly upon seeing it. Tarym did not notice this and continued. "Three of them appeared above our world and we greeted them. They attacked one of our ships and took some of its crew hostage. As we are the protectors of the Lords' temple we had no choice but to destroy them." He pressed several buttons and the display showed a plethora of small devices. "We recovered a great deal of technology which we applied to our lives." He deactivated the display. "They have not bothered us since."

Chloe's spirit lifted immensely when she heard that they were gone, but quickly fell again as she realized that they had reached this galaxy already and more could still be on the way. She shook off her feelings and thought about something he had just told her. "You mentioned a temple?" she asked. He merely nodded inquisitively. "Is this it? The building that has the Stargate, the Ring?"

He looked even more puzzled. "No, the temple resides underground. No one has ever entered as it is forbidden. We have found these temples on planets across the galaxy, and we are designated their protectors." Chloe looked up and thought about things, but he interrupted her. "We had hoped that upon the Lords' return, we would learn their purpose," he said, moving towards her with a curious expression.

She heard the Stargate activate in the Gate Room and Tarym walked off in that direction with Chloe by his side. He still watched her, waiting for an answer.

"Honestly," she started, "we don't know."

He walked into the Gate Room and watched his people return. His gaze was one of confusion and puzzlement. He turned back to Chloe. "How can you not know, if you are one of the Lords?" he asked bluntly.

She felt trapped and didn't know the best way to respond. She figured the truth was the best. "We aren't the makers of _Destiny_. We boarded it four years ago in an accident," she confessed. "Our home is on the other side of the universe, but we were made by the Ancients, your Lords, as well," she paused. "The Ancients died out thousands of years ago, but most of them learned to ascend, to live as energy."

Tarym glazed over her and seemed to be in deep thought. His people continued to walk down the ramp, and the 'Gate soon shut down. More supplies were brought in and one of the Nati pulled out a dialing remote. Tarym grabbed the remote from him without warning and stormed out of the room. He peeled off the device from his forehead and shouted something in his native tongue. All of the Nati in the room followed him out. Greer lumbered out of the Neural Interface Room, confusion written all over his face.

"What the _hell_ just happened?" he asked as Eli, Scott, and James walked out after him.

Chloe looked dumbfounded and just stood at the bottom of the ramp. "I have no idea."

Before anyone could go to investigate Tarym returned with at least ten Nati. These men were different. All of them had thicker black uniforms and each carried a small curved rod in their hands. They looked a whole lot like guns. Tarym had replaced his translator device and gazed at Chloe and the others with contempt.

Scott spoke first. "What's going on here?" His weapon was raised as were Greer's and James', and Chloe had backed up to stand beside Eli.

Tarym said nothing. He nodded slightly, and with an orange light Chloe felt a sensation of electrocution before passing out.

* * *

><p>"Everett," O'Neill started, disappointment in his voice as he leaned back in his chair, "you're out there, billions of light-years away from here. Do you think that maybe you could <em>stop<em> meeting so many humans?" he finished sarcastically.

Young was sitting in O'Neill's office. Ryder had left to go to the IOA as soon as he arrived and he went to the General's office instead. He had just finished related the most recent news to him. "Well for the record, General, it wasn't our fault this time," he said recalling the Novus colony. "Dr. Rush says that he found a record left behind by a Seed Ship that confirms the Ancients created life on that planet."

"They do that a lot, don't they?" O'Neill quipped. He looked down at his watch and then sighed. "He's late."

Young furrowed his brow. "Sir?"

As he said that a bright white light filled the space to O'Neill's right, and the next second Telford was standing there. Young stood quickly and smiled. "David, it's damn good to see you again." He walked up to his friend and extended his hand.

"Everett, I told you I'd still be here," Telford returned, shaking his hand warmly.

"And moving upward maybe?" Young said.

Telford smiled uncomfortably. "No, not exactly. But that's more so by choice."

"He's passed up a commission as commander on a 304 a dozen times by now," O'Neill threw in testily. "He'd rather spend his time sitting waiting for a stone connection," he grumbled.

Telford looked back at the General. "You know that I just want to stay on Earth for the time being." As he turned to O'Neill, he folded his arms and Young got a look on his hand. There was a small glint of light on his left hand. Young started and looked up at him, and Telford noticed his surprise.

"You're married?" Young said, a smile on his face. "Well when did this happen? I never really saw you as the commitment type."

Telford got more uncomfortable at that. "About a year after you entered stasis."

"Anyone I know?" Young joked. Telford flushed and seemed to get even more upset with the course of the discussion. "David, you okay?"

Telford lightly nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess." He sighed and looked apologetically to Young. "Before you and Emily divorced," he started, "I visited her to help her out emotionally. She felt alone, torn apart, and I knew you wanted her to feel safe. After you divorced, and a few months of you being in stasis, we started to see each other more." He stared back at Young who sat expressionless. "Look, Everett, I'm sorry."

"No," Young said quickly, no tone in his voice. "No, it's fine. I'm really glad you're happy. I knew I couldn't be there for her." He let a small smile break through. "I'm just glad someone could."

Telford grinned, seeming relieved. "Oh, isn't this touching?" O'Neill said, getting back the attention of the two soldiers. "Can we get back to the debriefing? Please?"

They both looked apologetically at the General. "So," Telford said, regaining his seriousness, "it looks like you managed to get to the next galaxy without too much of a problem."

Young grinned, his mind back on the discussion as well. "No, I wish I could say that. The ship's still out of sorts and our food stores are low, but for now we're alive." He paused as he reflected on Rush's actions. "But the good news, as I just told the General, is that we found some rather friendly people. They've agreed to supply us with some materials and equipment."

Telford looked from the General and back to Young. He smiled but could tell that something was eating at Young. "That's great news, Everett, but what's up?"

Young sighed and leaned in. "I've run into some problems with…" He stopped himself right there as he felt his mind yanked from Lee's body and replaced back in his own. He looked around quickly. Barnes was sitting at her laptop, holding his stone in a gloved hand. Wray and Brooks were standing next to him, their countenances not exactly the warm 'Welcome back' ones' he had hoped to see. "What is it?" he said immediately, shaking off his disorientation and standing to face them.

Wray looked deeply worried, almost scared. "We have a problem. Come to the Control Room."

Brooks marched off first quickly and Young ran after her, Wray catching up slower behind them. They ran into the Control Interface Room where Rush was sitting with Brody and Volker, and none of them looked any better than Wray or Brooks. The holographic display was activated, and instead of a blue dot that had occupied the space in front of _Destiny_, there was now a pulsating red dot.

"Will someone please tell me what the _hell_ is going on?" he said impatiently, directing most of the venom in his voice to Rush. He responded by pressing one button on his console and standing back from it. Young walked up and saw it was a recording from a Kino. Wray stretched out her hand to Young. It held the translator she had from the Nati. He gingerly took it and attached it to his temple, upon which Rush played the video.

_There was no one in front. Quietly Tarym stepped in front and spoke resolutely. "For your acts of deception, your people have been taken our prisoners," he started. The unconscious bodies of five people were shown, sprawled on the floor of a holding room. Tarym stood in front of them now. "You are not our Lords, and you have stolen the devotion that was meant for them. For these acts, we have no choice but to ensure that you no longer defile their technology. We will come for you in numbers, and ensure your annihilation."_

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. The crew of <em>Destiny_ has become the target of a holy war, and some of the crew have become the prisoners of the crusaders. Now the crew must all stand together and fight to save themselves from the oncoming onslaught._


	3. Heretics

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_Firstly, thank you to every who has read this story! Big thanks to malfoystinksstinks for giving me some information about the expedition, and ScienceFictionSquirrel for giving me some good critiques! I'm really thankful to everyone who reviews this story! Like I said before, it really makes it more fun to keep writing. Special thanks to Tori Hawkeye for her support. But for the record I didn't have anyone beta read this episode, so forgive any errors._

_This is episode three which is chocked full of plots twists. It hopefully has a good blend of action, emotion, and development. As always, I hope you enjoy this work to the fullest, and please please please REVIEW because it really makes me feel good, and as ScienceFictionSquirrel has proven, it does help an author._

_Now, for two reasons, I will not post my next episode until two Sundays from now. 1, this upcoming Sunday is on Labor Day Weekend, and 2, I'm using the Labor Day Weekend as an excuse to get out of publishing so I can catch up on some work I've been needing to do._

_**(IMPORTANT):** Thanks to malfoystinksstinks for sending me a link with a list of the expedition. I never thought to look for it before, and because of this I had to change a character's name (YATES IS NOW RYDER). I had to put this here in case no one read the update from the last episode._

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode "Reboot" and "Worship". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>303: Heretics<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery __by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_We're not alone here._

_What's out there?_

_That ship out there… is an Ancient ship._

_They think we're their gods!_

_It would seem that the Seed Ship did more than just leave a Stargate on this world. It actually created life. The only question is, why here?_

_Why didn't you just tell me?_

_There's a large amount of information stored on the Ancient database on the planet._

_You were worried I wouldn't let you download it if you told me?_

_I didn't know how to ask you without you saying my motives were selfish._

_You really believe it, don't you? What Chloe said, that these people think we are their gods?_

_The structure this ship is searching for would contain knowledge, power even, that most people would call god-like. _

_I stood by your side. All I asked is that you stay honest with me. I guess you were right. We'll never be done._

_They made it seem Tabitha would be the one to replace._

_Consider this your confirmation._

_Eli. Who is this?_

_He's a friend. His name is Kalin. He's from Novus._

Destiny_ suffered heavy damage recently, and your world has resources that could aid us immensely in repairing it._

_We aren't the makers of _Destiny.

_For your acts of deception, your people have been taken our prisoners. We will come for you in numbers, and ensure your annihilation."_

* * *

><p>Morrison sat by himself on the long chair in the Observation Deck situated in front of the window. He often would sit alone there, but it wasn't clear if that was by choice or just no one wanted to sit with him. On the other side of the room he saw Kalin sitting in another small chair alone as well. While Morrison was sitting and working on a laptop, Kalin only sat and stared out of the window, his view focused on the ship that was still holding position in front of <em>Destiny<em>. Morrison didn't see any reason to pay any attention to this newcomer to the ship; he'd probably just strain the resources they already were low on. He just turned back to his laptop and typed furiously to try and solve a certain problem with the buffer activation protocols for some of the weapon platforms. Still, when Kalin jumped up and walked urgently to the railing, Morrison couldn't ignore him.

"What are they doing?" he muttered, squinting out to the ship. He caught the attention of everyone that was in the room at that moment. Varro had been sitting with TJ who finally had a chance to get away from the Infirmary, and they were taking the opportunity to talk lightly. A few others were also sitting in the room, just taking a break. They all rose and walked up to look closer and investigate.

"What is it?" TJ asked, walking ahead of Varro, concern suppressed in her voice.

Kalin whipped his head around quickly to look at her and then nervously jabbed a finger out into space. "What are they doing?" he repeated, clearly pointing at the Nati ship that had rotated to show it's long side to _Destiny_. From this distance no one could make out the turrets that were being raised and rotated to face _Destiny_, but no one had a problem seeing the blue pulses that came from them, and everyone felt the impact as the opening salvo slammed into the Observation Deck.

* * *

><p>Young stood his ground as the ship shook and a circuit exploded above his head, showering him with sparks. Wray grabbed the wall for support, and Brooks held onto the console closest to her. Young ripped the translator off of his temple with a sharp jolt of pain and slammed it onto the console.<p>

"Tell me what's happening!" he yelled, walking away from Rush's console and repositioned himself in front of the holographic display. The red dot had a pulsating wave rotating around it now, and small dots were flying off of the ship and slamming into _Destiny_'s white silhouette.

"They're firing on us!" Rush snapped. "That's what's _bloody_ happening!"

Young twisted around to him. "Well fire back! Brody, is the main weapon still deployed?"

Brody clutched onto his console as another hit rocked the ship. "Yeah, you told us to keep it ready just in case."

"Good. Target them and fire." He turned back to Rush. "How are we on power?" he asked quickly.

Rush quickly pushed a set of controls and relayed his findings. "Shields are strong for now, and weapons are holding. But we were in the process of repairing most of the batteries so we had to take them off-line," he added.

Young nodded and turned back to Brody, tipping to his side as they were hit again. "Put all power in the main weapon and take them out already!" Brody worked furiously over his controls, working hard to please the Colonel.

"We're firing!" Brody responded within seconds. Young looked back to the display and watched the battle. It showed dozens of shots flying off of the Nati ship, all plowing into _Destiny_. After that he saw a burst of dots move from _Destiny_ and hit their attacker. "Direct hits!" Brody announced. "I can't tell how much damage we did though," he added in a less excited tone.

"I don't care just keep it up!" Young yelled back.

* * *

><p>"TJ!" Varro yelled. The first shots from the Nati ship had all focused on the Observation Deck, and they hit hard. Everyone was knocked over by the amount of kinetic force the weapons delivered that the shields just couldn't account for, and then the next second the power systems surged in that room, bringing wires and metal flying from the ceiling. The lights died the next second, but the bright light from shield impacts was more than enough to illuminate the room.<p>

Varro had been standing right behind TJ when they were hit, but now he was on the floor and couldn't see her, or anyone else for the matter. "Tamara!" he called out again, louder. He kicked away a sheet of charred metal that was on his legs and slowly got up. He heard a groan and saw Dr. Morrison trapped under a larger piece of metal. Varro slowly moved to him and grabbed the debris. Straining with all his might, he managed to move it a little so Morrison to be moved out. When he pulled him out, he saw burn marks across his clothes and blood streaming across his face.

There was another crash behind him as someone moved debris to the floor, and he quickly turned around. "TJ?" he called.

He heard an affirmative moan, and the next second she stood, a small laceration on her arm, but otherwise uninjured. "What happened?" she said.

"We were attacked," he responded. The Observation Deck seemed to be in ruins. Pipes and beams were blocking most of the room, with some small fires and circuits sparking. The room was illuminated again as the shields glowed from another impact, and he could see another person crawling out of the debris. "Morrison is hurt bad," he called back.

Tamara walked up to join Varro and inspected Morrison. "We need to get him to the Infirmary," she agreed. "Help me carry him."

Varro easily scooped him up and walked out of the wreckage. "Lead the way," he said.

Kalin and the others who were in the room were not as badly injured and stumbled out of the room, following TJ. Hearing a loud pulse, everyone looked out of the window and saw _Destiny_ returning fire to the attacking vessel. The powerful yellow bolts lashed out and struck the lateral shields of it, their shields rippling from the attack. Seeing another salvo of the enemy weapons bearing down on them, everyone ran out of the room. TJ slammed her hand on the door control and watched the door close, the lock rotating to seal it.

They all stormed down the corridors and heading towards the infirmary, but upon reaching it TJ discovered a great deal of wounded already waiting for her.

"Oh boy," she muttered gazing at the wounded. Quickly surveying everyone she picked out the worst case to work on first, which turned out to be Morrison. He had multiple lacerations, a jagged piece of metal lodged in his leg, and, judging by the fact his skin felt moist, second-degree burns across most of his chest. "Put him here," she said to Varro, pointing to a bed under a scanner. As he did so, she looked around and saw at least eight other people with electrical burns and cuts. She pulled out her radio. "Camille, this is TJ." As she waited for her response she sterilized her hands and started to disinfect the area of Morrison's leg that had the metal in it.

"This is Camille," was the crackled response.

"I need help in the Infirmary," she said. "I can really use you."

"Understood," Wray responded.

* * *

><p>The ship rumbled from another salvo and another shower of sparks flew from the core.<p>

"Talk to me people!" Young yelled over the explosion.

"Shields are falling but still strong," Rush said.

"We're taking moderate damage to areas with failing emitters though," Brody amended, "and right now that's about half of them." He looked worriedly at his console. "Colonel, I can't keep this rate of fire up. The main weapon wasn't designed for this level of continuous fire."

Young glared at the scientist and then back at the display. "Tell me we're getting through their shields," he firmly said.

"Confirmed," Volker said. "Their starboard emitters are collapsing." The waves that pulsated around ships to indicate shields suddenly vanished around the Nati ship. "They've lost shields!"

Young whipped his head around to him. "Finish them!"

Brody thumbed a button, and everyone watched a flurry of dots move on the display from _Destiny_ and plummeted into the side of the Nati ship. The next second, the dot symbolizing the Nati ship had vanished.

Young let out a deep breath and turned to Brody and Volker. "Good work, gentleman."

Brody just sat relaxed in his chair, and Volker planted his face in his hands. "Yeah, but I don't think we can keep that up in our current state," Brody said. "We managed to get a good deal of supplies from the aliens before they attacked," he mentioned suddenly remembering the information.

Young acknowledged the news. "Good, get repairs started."

Volker shot up and bolted out of the room with Brody. "Go help them," Young told to Brooks as he walked out of the room. She hesitated, but didn't argue and ran after them.

* * *

><p>She was trapped. They had taken her again. Being submerged in the tanks again, a respirator that covering her face keeping her alive. They were watching her through the glass. Reading her mind and downloading her thoughts. Needles were shoved through her skin; she felt warm inside when she started to change. They were turning her into one of them, stealing her mind and body. Another person walked into the room. She couldn't make it out, but it was screaming at her. The words were muffled at first. The figure moved forward and screamed again.<p>

"Chloe! Wake up!" Scott yelled.

She gasped loudly and woke up, sitting up to face Scott crouched in front of her. Eli was leaning over, staring worriedly at her.

"Chloe, thank God," Eli said, letting out a deep breath. "Are you okay?"

She tried to sit up straighter, but felt herself get dizzy from the movement. She felt numb at the tip of her extremities and it was hard to move, and she had quite a headache. "No, not really," she said, clutching her head, seeing spots.

"Well, based on the change of the scenery," Eli said, remarking on the large room devoid of any furniture or apparatus save the door and a light, "they're definitely not friendly anymore."

"Yeah, whatever happened," Scott said, "it just came out of nowhere. I mean one minute they're delivering supplies to _Destiny_, and the next they're pulling out guns on us."

"Nasty electro-shock stun guns," Eli added, rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort.

"Do we know why they attacked us?" James spoke up. She was standing by the door which had no windows and no visible handle. "Was it something we said or did? I read mission reports when SG teams were taken hostage or imprisoned for minor offenses, just for not knowing the rules."

"But that doesn't make sense," Eli said. "They were calling us their gods. Somehow I'd like to think gods have some diplomatic immunity or something."

"Unless we weren't their gods anymore," Greer pitched in from the opposite wall. He was sitting on the ground. "What would you do if you someone told you they were your gods, and they you found out they were lying?"

Eli looked uncomfortably at him. "I'd probably shoot them, imprison them, and torture them for their crimes?"

Scott looked up at him and Greer grinned at him. "Well I just hope they don't think like you," Greer said.

James walked to the middle of the room and spread out her arms in puzzlement. "Well let's get back to the basics. _What_ changed their minds?"

"Me." Chloe sat up a little higher, the pain leaving her head and the feeling returning to her appendages. She didn't feel dizzy anymore and the spots in her vision were gone. "It's my fault," she confessed. "At least I think so."

Eli frowned and looked down to her. "Wait, what do you mean?"

She sat still for a moment and closed her eyes in frustration. "Chloe," Scott said, "what did you do?"

She sighed as she looked over to Scott. "Tarym asked me about a temple. I'm guessing it was something else the Seed Ship must have built here. Anyways, I told him that I didn't know what it was for."

Eli figured out where she was going. "And he put two and two together. Guess we can't be omnipotent gods," Eli said. "Or the Q."

"Regardless of whom we are," Scott said angrily, "we still need to get out of here."

Chloe rested her head in her hands and whimpered. Scott calmed down a little and held onto her shoulders, keeping her steady. "It's okay."

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled from within her hands. "It's all my fault."

"No," Scott said, rubbing her back trying to make her feel better. "No, Chloe, you can't think that way. You didn't know." He leaned in closer and whispered to her. "You can't blame yourself."

"Actually," said a loud voice in her head, "it is."

Everyone turned to look around the room in surprise. Chloe jerked up, her eyes darting around, searching for the speaker. The door hissed as the lock was released and it quietly slid open. Tarym was standing on the other side, flanked by a dozen guards. He had his hands behind his back and slowly walked in. Chloe looked to the nearest face, that being Scott, and checked his temple. It still had a translator on it.

"For someone who had the intention of deceiving us and usurping the role of our Lords," he said, "she was surprisingly candid about admitting your true origin."

"Regardless of that, the Ancients did create us," Eli said.

"It does not matter," Tarym replied harshly. "Right now the only thing that does matter is destroying you and all of your people."

Eli walked forward to him, but took a step back as the guards raised their weapons to him. "If you attack our people on _Destiny_, you'll be destroying Ancient technology, you know that right?"

Tarym didn't seem pleased at this topic. "It is unfortunate, true. But we will find a way to destroy you, no matter what craft you use to aid you."

Greer stood up and walked closer up to Tarym, not deterred by the guards. "So why don't you kill us?" he asked coolly. Tarym glared at him. "If you've set out against _Destiny_, all you need to do, is kill us." Tarym sighed at him, infuriated.

"Your people can use the Lord's technology well," Tarym said.

Greer smirked. "They kicked your asses, didn't they?"

Tarym ignored his statement. "You will tell us about the defenses and capabilities of your ship and how we may defeat them."

Greer's smirk grew. "You don't know how to beat them do you?" he said tauntingly.

"You only delay the inevitable," Tarym returned loudly. "Our numbers are great and we _will_ destroy your people." He stepped forward closer to his prisoners. "Tell me what I wish to know, and I promise a quick death for you."

"Yeah, 'cause that incentive works great," James said.

Scott got up too and walked up to join Eli and Greer in front of Tarym. "We won't talk," he affirmed.

"So you can send your ships," Greer said, "and watch them burn."

Tarym fumes and stepped back closer to his guards. He pulled his hands in front of him and revealed a pistol he had taken from them. "Your weapons are primitive," he said, brandishing it in front of him. "Crude, yet effective." He stretched it out, aimed it and fired.

Greer groaned and collapsed to the ground.

"Greer!" Scott yelled, kneeling down to the ground and clutched onto his friend. His abdomen was stained with blood.

"You will tell me what I ask for," Tarym threatened, "or you will all perish in agony." He put his gun back behind his back and walked out of the room. The door slid shut and they were left alone.

"How bad is it?" Greer said through his teeth. His whole abdomen was wet with blood. It wasn't clear where the wound was.

"Uh, not that bad," Scott said unconvincingly.

Greer coughed through the pain. "Don't lie to me again."

Scott looked at his friend's face and then back at his wound. "It's pretty bad." He reached for his backpack instinctively before he realized that had been taken as well. He sighed and ripped a length of his shirt and put it against the source of the blood as hard as he could. Greer groaned loudly at that. "We've gotta get him back to_ Destiny_, and soon."

"Hopefully we have a _Destiny_ to return him to," Eli said. Scott looked from him and then back to Greer, sighing. Chloe rested her head in her hands again, keeping her emotions in check.

* * *

><p>"Colonel!" Wray shouted from down the hall. Young turned around and looked back to see her walking up to him. He stopped and waited for her. She reached him and they kept walking together. "How's the ship?" she asked.<p>

"Not a clue," he said walking in stride with her. "I'm heading to the Control Interface Room now to get an update." He stared down as he walked and get moving quickly.

They walked for a short while and reached the Control Interface Room. Rush was still seated at the same console. Brody, Volker, and Brooks were seated at other chairs, smiles on their faces.

"So, what's happened?" Young said, walking up to Brody.

"Only good stuff," he answered perkily. "Thanks to the supplies the Nati gave us we managed to fix everything that their attack damaged."

"And pretty much everything else that was damaged from the drones," Volker added. "In fact, I think we're in the best shape we've seen this ship in to date."

Brody activated the holographic display which was showing a schematic of _Destiny_'s systems. "We've fixed all the weapon platforms and the robots replaced all damaged components. We repaired a few crucial power conduits and capacitors so we shouldn't run the risk of an overload. And, we have all but one of the shield emitters up to full strength."

"The damage from their attack was mostly limited to the area in and around the Observation Deck, but we've got one of the robots in there to repair the structural damage," Volker said, showing that area on the ship that had a red glow around it.

"The alien ship focused most of their fire there so that's the damaged emitter and where most of our damage was," Brody said. "But all critical repairs to that area are done."

Young nodded his head in approval. "That's good news." He turned to Wray. "What are our casualties?"

Wray sighed and looked up at him. "No fatalities. There are a few broken bones, but not too many serious injuries. Dr. Morrison is in serious condition though," she said lightly. "He lost a lot of blood and some of his wounds were infected. TJ is keeping a close eye on his condition."

Young sighed and turned to Brody. "The supplies they sent us. Was there any medicine in it?"

"No, just Ancient equipment, some raw materials, food, and water," Volker said. "We've already gotten the food to Becker and added the water to our stores. The surplus food is in storage. We used up most of the equipment on repairs already though."

"So let's try to keep the ship in one piece so we don't need more replacements," Young said. He sighed and walked up to Rush. "Did we get any data about the alien ship during the exchange? Anything that we can use against them if we have to confront them again? Or maybe an idea why they suddenly attacked. What made them change their minds about us?" he asked.

Rush leaned back in his seat and took in a deep breath. "I don't know. But something the team off world did must have set them off." He paused, and then pressed several buttons on his console, setting a new image on the holographic display. "As for a tactical advantage, I might have something." Everyone turned to the display which showed the galaxy they were currently in. At the edge of the lower left spiral, a blue dot showed _Destiny_'s position. "I figured that whatever made them hostile happened on their home world. Obviously they would need some form of subspace communication to rely attack orders to their ship out here. I sorted through _Destiny_'s sensor logs and found the specific frequency used by their communications, and used that to search for their ships, much like we did with the Drone Command Ships." He pressed another few buttons, and dozens of red dots began to fill in the same spiral they were in. Many were not far from _Destiny_'s position. "We're more than just outnumbered. These ships use Ancient technology and other technologies they absorbed over the years, so there is no telling what kind of advantages they might have over us."

"Well we managed to destroy one ship already," Young said in opposition.

"Yeah, one bloody ship. That's a lot different than all the ones left, and I can confirm at least three ships are heading here as we speak," Rush added quietly.

"Well with the ship mostly repaired now we should be able to handle ourselves better if we need to fight again," Volker said. "Not that I want to get into another fight though."

Rush grumbled at being interrupted. "However," he continued, "it does seem that most of their ships are concentrated in a region of only a few hundred light-years in area." A small portion of the display glowed to show the region. "I believe that once we clear this region, we should be much safer."

"We're not going anywhere until we get our people back," Young said forcefully. He walked over and stared at the display. He couldn't deny that the odds were bad. "Rush, show me where their home world is on this map?"

Rush sighed but complied. He entered in the coordinates and a pulsating Stargate appeared on the map. Surrounding it were a dozen Nati ships. "It's heavily guarded. I can't see how we could get there without being destroyed."

The room was in silence for a minute as Young stared at the display and the others wondered about possibilities. Brooks was the first to speak up. "What if we could get most of their ships out of that system?" she said and turned to Brody. "Could we handle ourselves against three or four of their ships?"

Brody sighed and thought for a moment. "Probably, but we wouldn't come out too well from that fight. We don't have many replacements anymore, so any damage we would take would be hard to repair."

"Not if we could get more," Volker said suddenly. The attention went to him. "The Nati were going to send more supplies to us, so if we could get down to their home world we might be able to get some of it."

"Could we Gate in to their world? Try to retrieve them and our people by force?" Brody asked.

"Looked at all those ships!" Volker said. "They clearly would outnumber any military force we could send."

"This brings me back to my original point," Brooks interjected, "of trying to thin out their numbers. We need to figure out some distraction that can get them to leave their home world."

"Well what would prompt them to leave in the first place?" Wray asked.

"They seem pretty set on destroying us," Brody said. "If we were close to them they would probably move to intercept us."

"Or if they just thought we were close to them," Brooks said. She walked up to the display and stared at it for a moment. She smiled and pointed at a star system near the Nati home world that was devoid of ships. "Is there a Stargate on this world?" she asked Rush.

Rush stared down at his console and entered several buttons. "Yes," he replied, another Stargate popping up on the display. "It's within four light-years of their home world, and based on the telemetry it's one of the 'Gates they built."

Brooks turned back to Young triumphantly. "If they thought we were at this planet, or at least attacking this planet, what do you think they would do?"

"Do you really think they are gullible enough to fall for a ploy like that?" Rush said loudly. "They seem to have a fanatical desire to protect their technology. I seriously doubt that they would just leave their home unprotected."

"They also appear to have an equally powerful desire to see us destroyed," Brooks returned. "Maybe enough to get them to leave."

Young stared from Rush to Brooks, considering their arguments. "Well, Major," he said hoping to get a better plan, "what did you have in mind as a distraction?"

She looked at the display and then back at Young. "We send a bomb through to the planet so they think it's under attack. It seems to me that they have spread across these worlds so there should be someone there report it. Since these ships are so close, they just might be ordered to leave and help defend that world."

"Everything you're saying now is based on assumptions!" Rush shouted at her, rising from his seat. "We cannot risk the people on this ship and the ship itself on assumptions."

Brooks looked angry and walked up to Rush. "I was asked to provide a plan to help out those trapped people, and I intend to do it. Now, do you have a plan that you could submit, or are you just going to keep arguing against mine?" She glared down at Rush, but he wasn't fazed by her.

He leaned back and folded his arms. "There doesn't seem to be much point in a rescue mission if you intend on destroying this ship in the process. I wouldn't argue a plan that achieved all our goals without losing more than is gained."

"Fine, you've made your point," Young snapped at Rush, receiving a dark look from the scientist. He ignored him and turned to Brooks. "What did you have in mind for a bomb? We're not exactly a supplier of C4 right now."

"Wait!" Volker spoke up. "Those generators that Kalin brought, weren't they fusion-based?" Brooks nodded and perked up. "We drained it mostly using it to power the F.T.L., but if we could refuel it with the lighter elements, we could make it work again."

"How does this help us?" Young asked.

Brody looked up to Young this time. "If we can reinitiate the generator but prevent the energy from being released through its output valve, we could overload it."

"Exactly," Volker said. "That generator is relatively powerful and could probably result in an explosion of thirty kilotons at least. More if we overcharge the generator. But still, that should be a big enough bang to get their attention."

Young looked to Brody who nodded in agreement. "We can definitely rig the generator as a bomb, but whether or not it'll work as a distraction is beyond me."

"Well whatever we do, we'd better do it now," Rush said quietly. Young turned to look at him. "Those three ships that I mentioned earlier will be here within two hours."

"When can we jump?" Young asked.

"Now if we want to, but that means the plan will only be harder to achieve," Rush said. Young looked at him harder and Rush tapped his fingers on the console. "If we can dial to that planet before they get here and send the bomb, then we should be able to head directly for their home world. We can just pass through the rest of their space after that, or move carefully avoiding their ships." He indicated to the map again. "Either way, this area of space will take us at least a few weeks to pass through, maybe a couple months."

Young walked from Rush to the display. He gazed to Brooks and the other scientists and then back to the display. There really wasn't a choice. It was either enact this dangerous plan, or just leave his crew. No, this wasn't a choice. He turned to Volker and Brody. "You two, get Kalin and work on the generator." They nodded and walked out of the room. "And make it fast!" he called as they were leaving. He looked back to Rush and took in a breath. "Rush, work with Brooks on tracking these ships and prepare the calculations for our jumps. I want to be able to more quickly."

Rush nodded reluctantly and rose from his seat, grabbing a notepad. "Come with me," he said to Brooks who walked right after him.

Young stood in the room for a moment, staring at the map and wondering why nothing seemed to work for him and his crew. Wray stepped up and cleared her throat. She hadn't said anything and Young had forgotten about her. She scrutinized his face and gave him a concerned look. "What's been bothering you?" she asked. Young returned no look, just stared at her blankly. "I was watching you just now. You were pretty aggressive." She stepped closer and took a deep breath. "What happened?"

He sighed and leaned against one of the consoles, staring at Wray. "I can't trust the man, Camille," he said, letting out a deep breath. Wray pressed her lips tightly together and looked upset, but understood who he was talking about him. "Every single time that I think I've figured him out, that I think we're on the same page," he said with frustration, "he just proves to me that he doesn't care about the people here. It's all about this mission." He sighed and Wray's expression softened. "I told him that I would support him, and I intend to, but he's making it damn hard to do that."

She turned to look at the display and then back to Young. She took in a deep breath and walked up to the display. "We're not in a good position here right now. And even before now we weren't in a good position. We need to keep moving forward, but more than that, we need to keep moving forward _together_." She looked down uncomfortably and leaned against the wall. "I think we both learned that the hard way." Young nodded at that, dearly hoping never to have to divide the crew again. "And for what it's worth, I don't think Rush is trying to compete for power with you. Not again. He understands that he can only stay here and keep going if you work with him."

Young rubbed his face and rested his forehead in his palm. He needed Rush to willingly show that he wanted to work with him to be able to support him. Apparently, Young would need to work even harder than he wanted to keep this crew together. He looked up and nodded at Wray. "No, I understand. I do want to keep this crew together. Thanks," he said slowly.

Wray nodded back and walked out of the room, leaving Young alone to figure out how to make everyone work together.

* * *

><p>"How long has it been?" Greer asked as soon as he woke up. He lost consciousness a few minutes after he was shot, and Scott was able to properly bandage up his wound.<p>

"I'm not really sure," Eli said. "They literally took everything except our clothes, our watches too. Guess they don't know what it's supposed to do." He sighed and looked at Greer and rubbed his bare wrist. "But it feels like it's been at least a couple of hours."

"It _feels_ like it's been a lot longer than that!" Chloe muttered from the corner of the room.

"I wonder what they're waiting for," Scott said. He was really worried. Not only were they being held hostage, but his friend was bleeding out with a bad wound and there was nothing that could be done to help him here. Of course Greer was the one that needed to get shot. He's the one that would have been best able to keep it composed in here.

"Probably for us to lose our minds and just tell them everything they want to know," Eli said. "I mean, they haven't given us food or water. I bet they don't even plan on keeping us for long."

"Okay, can we stop speculating now and try to find a way out?" Scott said sharply, standing up and looking at Eli.

"There is no way out!" Eli shouted back. "Save, of course, the door that can't be opened from in here, and that has a bunch of armed guards on the other side." He leaned back against the wall and sighed. "I'm sorry. Give me a computer to hack and I'm your man, but brute force isn't my specialty."

Scott nodded back to him apologetically. A hiss caught everyone's attention and they gazed at the door as it opened. Tarym walked in, again flanked by many guards.

"Have you reconsidered giving me the information I desire?" he asked calmly, standing in front of Greer but looking out to everyone.

Scott walked up to him and stared grimly at Tarym. "I think you know we're not going to betray our friends. So good luck on your own."

Tarym smirked and looked at Greer. "He will not live long. A day maybe." He gazed up at Scott. "The rest of you won't last much longer." Tarym raised his hand and motioned the guards into the room. Two walked up and grabbed Eli and pulled him out of the room.

"Eli!" Chloe shouted. Scott ran up and held onto Eli, earning a strong punch to the face sending him backward. He clasped his face and balanced himself with a hand on the wall. The guards stopped with Eli in front of Tarym.

"You know much about our Lord's technology," Tarym said to Eli menacingly. "You will undoubtedly know much about your ship and how we can defeat it."

Eli scoffed softly, trying to put up a brave face but somewhat failed. "I don't think I'll tell any of it to you."

Tarym just smiled lightly. "You won't need to." He pointed to his own temple. "These devices were originally designed to extract information. We have since modified them to our purposes, but they can be reverted easily." He tapped Eli's device which was still blinking on his temple. "We will be able to get everything we need. It's a shame you wouldn't just tell us. I'm told the process is quite painful." His smile grew larger at that and the guards dragged Eli out of the room. Tarym returned a quick glance at his remaining prisoners, and walked out after them. The door quickly sealed shut.

Chloe sat still and closed her eyes, pushing the images and memories out of her head. James walked over to Scott and helped him stand straight. "Are you alright, sir?" she asked, pulling his hand off his face.

"Yeah," he said, not feeling much pain anymore, "I'm fine." He turned to Chloe and looked down at her with compassion. "Chloe, can they do that?"

She slowly turned her head to face him and nodded. "Yes."

* * *

><p>"Are we ready gentlemen?" Young asked as he walked into the bridge. Volker looked up from his console as Young sat in the central chair.<p>

"Yeah, we've charged the generator. Brody is waiting in the Gate Room to send it through to the planet," he answered, turning back to his station.

"Good. Rush, how long until those ships get here?"

Rush stared at his console and leaned back, crossing his arms. "About eight minutes."

"Alright." Young grabbed his radio. "Brody, dial the 'Gate and send it through."

"Understood," Brody responded.

"Is there any way we can confirm that the bomb goes off?" Young asked.

Rush turned in his seat. "We could send a Kino through with it. But I believe there's a good chance the 'Gate will simply be destroyed in the explosion."

"I'm not sure that I agree with that," Brooks said as she walked into the bridge. She walked up to the side of Young's chair. "Whenever we detonated a nuclear device near a 'Gate it never destroyed it. In fact the massive energy output usually would supercharge a connection."

Rush sighed. "You're talking about the Stargates in the Milky Way. Those 'Gates are much more advanced than these 'Gates. They can retain a much larger charge in their capacitors, can dial longer distances, and are significantly more durable. In fact, we know these 'Gates are destructible."

Brooks frowned and looked at Rush. "A direct blast from a drone managed to cripple a 'Gate where we first encountered the people of Novus. The bomb would deliver a much greater yield. There's no way the 'Gate would survive. Plus, this is a Nati 'Gate, so it stands to reason it is even more inferior."

"Colonel, this is Brody."

"Go ahead," Young said into his radio, looking from Rush to a display at his side.

"I just sent activated the bomb and sent it through the 'Gate. It should go critical in a few seconds," Brody said.

"Copy that. Get up to the bridge." He looked back up at Rush. "Is the 'Gate still there?"

Rush slowly turned and pressed a few buttons, checking the subspace signal between _Destiny_ and the Stargate. It was glowing green for a moment, and then went red. "No." He turned to look at Young. "It worked. The 'Gate is destroyed."

Young let out a breath and nodded. "Good. What about their home world? Have any ships left yet?"

"So far all of them are there," Volker said. "It might take some time before they get the news."

"In the meantime," Rush spoke up, "those three ships are almost here."

Young acknowledged him and sat back into his chair. "Right. Are we ready for an F.T.L. jump to their planet?"

"Yes, but I think I have a suggestion you might want to hear," Rush added. Young turned to him and nodded. "We want to hurt them as much as possible, correct? Well, I think we can make sure those three ships don't bother us again," he said, pointing up at the center monitor showing the three red dots.

Young sighed. He had to admit, there was a certain appeal to what he was suggesting. "What did you have in mind?" he asked.

Rush leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. "We enter F.T.L. on a course that takes us through the corona of the star. The massive transit to subspace will disperse and vaporize a portion of the star's mass, and the released energy would accelerate the star's natural fusion reactions. It should increase the amount of heavy metals left in the star by a significant amount."

"Wait!" Volker said. "You want to blow up the star?" He looked incredulously at his fellow scientist.

"Actually, yes," he returned, gazing at Volker. "The resulting supernova would destroy everything in this system, including those ships."

"What about the gravitational pull? Or the magnetic field, solar flares? They can all cause our F.T.L. drive to malfunction and we'd just get thrown back into the system. Possibly with a supernova on our tail!"

Rush sighed, feeling quite annoyed. "I've done the necessary calculations and changed our jump path accordingly to accommodate for the gravity well." He turned to Young. "I've checked the math. It'll work, but only if we do it now."

Young sat up in his chair, holding his radio in his hands, thinking about his options. "What are the odds this could work?" he asked Volker.

He guffawed at him. "Are you actually considering this?"

"Yes. Anything that we can do to even the odds, even a little, is worth it," he said. He glanced at Rush and felt a glimmer of hope that maybe they could work together for the better. "Now tell me, can this work?"

Volker sighed and rested his elbow on the console. "I suppose theoretically it could work," he said, throwing his arms in the air, "but there's no guarantee that we'll jump out of the system."

"What could theoretically work?" Brody said, running into the bridge and quickly taking a seat at the middle station.

Volker gestured to Rush. "He wants to blow up a star."

Brody whipped his head to look at Rush, and then to Young. "You agree?"

"If it works it'll take care of the ships they sent after us, so yes. If it can be done without damaging us, I want to do it," Young said.

"Well, we have to do it now then," Rush spoke up as his console beeped. "Those ships are only another two minutes out."

"What about the planets in this system?" Brooks asked. Rush looked at her inquisitively. "What if they support life? You'd be destroying it all."

Rush shook his head. "I scanned the planets. There's only four in the system. Two are superheated balls of rock, one is a frozen ice planet, and the other is a gas giant. None support life."

Brooks sighed and looked to Young. "I can't say I love this plan."

"Can't say I loved yours either," Rush scoffed.

Young put his radio down on the console near his chair and looked to Rush. "But it's not a bad one either. Do it."

Rush nodded and quickly turned back in his seat. "Setting a course for the star." The center display showed _Destiny_'s white outline move quickly to the star. They were already in orbit of the second planet which had a close orbit to the star, so they didn't have far to go. He checked his other readings. "One minute until their ships get here."

"It'll take us another three to reach the star," Brody added. "Unless they drop out on top of us they won't be able to overtake us."

"Let's just hope they don't figure out what we're doing and leave," Rush said.

Young stared at his side console, watching the white shape move to the star. "Is there any change with the ships around their home world?"

Volker quickly checked his terminal, having forgotten about it. "Um, it looks like our plan worked," he said in relief. "Eight ships have left."

"That still leaves four more," Brody said. "I'm not too sure if we can handle four ships easily."

"We'll worry about that when we get there," Young said. "Right now just get us through that star."

Another beep at Rush's station got everyone's attention. "That's it. They entered normal space by the second planet." He turned to look at Young over his shoulder. "They're on an intercept course, but they won't reach us." He looked back to his station.

Everyone just watched the console in silence, hoping to nudge _Destiny_ closer to the star just a little bit faster. The wait seemed to last quite a while. The three red dots slowly moved closer to _Destiny_, very slowly. Volker sat uncomfortably at his chair, still unhappy with this idea. He wished that Eli was here because he would be the one that could argue Rush better than anyone and get Young to listen to him. Volker wished he could do more to be more assertive. Young sat as stared at the star which was quickly getting larger in the window until that was all he could see.

"Rush, are we ready?" he asked, looked down at Rush to avoid a direct view of the star.

"Just another few hundred kilometers," he returned. "If we don't jump at the right point the most that we can hope for is an abnormally large solar flare."

"Fine," Young returned.

Rush's console beeped again and he entered in a sequence of commands. "Okay we're good. Jump in three… two… one… jump!"

A grinding noise filling the ship, and the bright sun quickly vanished from sight. Once Young got past the initial distortion, he looked back out the window to see the typical blue clouds glide along the hull.

"It worked!" Volker shouted. "We're okay, and in F.T.L."

Young felt relief surge through him. He turned up to Brooks. "Dr. Ryder? Are you okay?"

Brooks smirked. "It's still me." Young furrowed his brow and looked up at her. Rush turned in his seat as well and looked perplexed. "I did say permanent, didn't I?"

"What's going on here?" Rush said suddenly. "Now I know something has happened with Dr. Ryder that you've yet to tell anyone about," he said looking angrily at Young. "Maybe it's time for you to confess your own secrets?"

Young sighed and sat back, looking at Brooks. "Major Brooks has been ordered by the IOA to replace Ryder on our crew permanently."

Rush scoffed and stared incredulously at Brooks, and then at Young. "And you agreed to it?"

"It wasn't my decision," Young returned. "And maybe you haven't noticed, but I haven't had much of a chance lately to voice my opinion to the IOA."

"What do you mean?" Brooks asked looking at Young. "You didn't seem upset about this arrangement."

"Like I said," he sighed, "I haven't a chance to say anything about it to the IOA. But now that you're wondering, no, I don't like this 'arrangement' at all. And no, when you said permanent, I didn't realize you literally meant no going back to Earth."

Rush's station beeped. He turned to look at it. "It worked. The ships are destroyed." He looked back to Young. He nodded to the scientist approvingly. Maybe he could make this thing work. He turned to look at Brooks.

"How did you manage that anyways?" Volker asked from his seat. "An F.T.L. jump always interrupts the stones."

Brooks smiled a little. "It was really just a flaw in our technology. The activation pad we were using for the stone connection was just our own replica of the Ancient stone terminal. We had to make our own as the original was destroyed. While exploring the reasons for the interruptions experienced on _Destiny_, Dr. McKay made a breakthrough." She took a step back and leaned on the railing. "Several years ago the Pegasus expedition found an Ancient communication terminal, and he spent some time studying it. He figured that we must have been missing something, because while being connecting through that terminal the connection was never broken, even through 'Gate travel. Apparently, the original design contained a kind of subspace interference dampener. It would strengthen the signal and amplify it through subspace while the users were being transported through subspace. Although the technology works through the basis of quantum entanglement, a massive transit to or from subspace with our terminal would cause a lost connection. However, McKay was working on adjusting the terminal to overcome that glitch, making a prototype to apply those upgrades to my stone." She smiled wider. "I suppose he succeeded."

"Well, you can thank him in person," Young said. He grabbed his radio. "Corporal Barnes, disconnect Major Brooks from the communication terminal."

"Sir?" Barnes inquired.

"Do it," he replied firmly. Brooks just remained leaning against the railing, not seeming to care about what Young was doing.

There was a pause for a moment. "Done sir."

He looked up. "Ryder?" he asked hopefully.

"Still me," Brooks said, smiling. As Young continued to stare at her, she continued. "When the Lucian Alliance attacked Earth, we couldn't return Dr. Covel and Senator Michael because Covel deactivated the command protocols on the stones here. We did the same on my Earth stone to make sure the signal would never be interrupted."

"Why?" Young asked her intently. "Why are you really here?"

Brooks lost her smile slowly and stared seriously at Young. "That's not for you to know. Just take what the IOA said and walk with it Colonel."

Young rose from his chair. He took his radio and clipped it onto his belt. He walked up to Brooks and gazed at her. "For now. But once we get some calm around here, I'm not walking with anything they tell me." He quickly moved out of the bridge and disappeared down the hall.

* * *

><p>Wray held her bowl out to Becker. He took it and filled it with some fruits and a small portion of the normal white paste. "I hope you enjoy the food. The fruits tasted pretty good."<p>

She smiled back at him. "Thanks," she said. She took her bowl back and sat down at an empty table. She took her fork and took a piece of the fruit in her mouth and chewed it slowly, wary of a foreign food. It actually wasn't that bad, but she didn't care that much about the food right now.

"Can I join you?" Wray looked up to see Brooks standing over her, holding her own small bowl of a couple pieces of fruit. Wray gestured to the chair across from her. She slowly ate a piece of fruit that looked like a purple strawberry. "Is the food always so good?"

Wray chuckled. "These are pretty tasty," she agreed. She put her fork down and sat back. "I heard about what happened on the bridge. You seem to have a knack for getting a target painted on your head."

"You know I'm can't tell him why I'm here," Brooks returned, eating another fruit. "Not the real reason anyways. And besides, I _can_ be useful on this ship as a scientist."

"Just don't push your luck with him," Wray warned. "And please don't get me involved. I really don't need to lose the Colonel's trust. And one of the biggest things that the Colonel can't stand is secrets dividing the crew." She sighed. "And here I am playing right into that."

"Relax," she said reassuringly, finishing her last piece of fruit. "It isn't your fault. The Colonel understands the chain of command, and it was the IOA's decision. Just stick with it for now." She stood, dropped her bowl near Becker, and walked out of the Mess Hall.

* * *

><p>Rush stared at his notepad as he was walking down the corridor. There were a lot of numbers scrawled on the paper, and even more things scratched out. He let a breath out in exasperation as he approached the bridge and pocketed the pad. He saw Kalin sitting at the right station with Brody standing over him. "How close are we?" he asked Brody.<p>

Brody looked up from Kalin and moved to the center station. "Another seven hours."

He nodded and gestured to Kalin. "What are you up to?" he asked, moving to the central chair.

"Mr. Brody offered to instruct me in how to operate the Ancient systems here," he said smiling. "Seeing as I will probably be here for a long time, I figured it's probably a good idea."

"Yeah," Rush agreed, nodding his head. "Where's Colonel Young?"

"Here, do you need me?" Young said as he walked in, rubbing his eyes.

"Didn't get much sleep, did you?" Rush asked softly.

Young scoffed. "The best sleep that I ever had was in the stasis pod, and I don't think I've slept at all since then." He walked up slowly and sat down in the center chair, looked at Rush standing next to him. "So, what do you need?"

"Well," Rush started, resting his elbows on the console, "we're on the way to their home world. I was hoping you might have some plan of engagement once we get there."

"I was counting on rescuing our people and getting the hell out of there," he said.

Rush scoffed. "Maybe you could offer some more details?"

"Well you're welcome to pitch in you know," Young returned.

He sighed and pulled his notepad out, staring at the calculations again. "I set a course that _should_ drop us out near the planet, and most likely near their defense ships."

"Should?" Young asked tentatively.

"Well I'm not quite as accurate at the F.T.L. calculations as Chloe," Rush admitted unwillingly, "but I'm pretty sure I can make it close enough."

"And if you can't?"

Rush looked down to his notepad and stared at a part of calculations that had been crossed out. "We either come out of F.T.L. farther from the planet than we'd like, or we might come out within the planet, but" he said quickly, "the odds of that are unlikely."

"I hope so," Young said. "Well, if we are that close to their ships, we should be able to engage them quickly, maybe disable them before they raise their defenses."

"I've been doing some research into that," Rush said, moving to the central station. He brought up a schematic of the Nati ship. "_Destiny_'s sensor log of our engagement with the ship has lent me some valuable information." He pressed a set of buttons and a section of the ship in the aft pulsated. "This would seem to be the location of their power core. There are power conduits that link through this whole region. If we can drop out near their ships, we could manage to destroy most of their ships quickly. These conduits would be easy targets and I believe secondary explosions would ripple through their ship, destroying it."

Young stared sleepily at the monitor. "It sounds like it's worth trying. It could most likely give us an upper hand." He put his head in his hands and rested.

Rush stood from his station, dropping his notepad on his console. "Maybe you should go to your quarters for a while," he offered. "It'll be several hours until we reach their world. You should probably go rest. We need you to be awake and well at the next confrontation."

He looked at Rush and nodded. "Yeah, I think I will." He slowly got up and walked out of the room. At the threshold of the door he stopped and turned around. Rush was still standing at the chair, staring at the console. Feeling he was been watched he looked up. "Thank you," Young said, before walking out.

* * *

><p>The hallways of the ship were long and empty. Young walked down them, but they all looked the same. Every turn led to an identical corridor, and all the doors led to empty rooms. He just kept walking down, not thinking. He felt lost, and didn't know where he was going.<p>

"Need some help?" He looked up and saw Rush standing in the center of a rotunda with five openings into other hallways.

"Where is everyone?" Young asked.

"You need to trust me," Rush said. "Follow me." He walked down the second opening on the right. Young hesitated, standing in the rotunda. He decided to follow him down the hall.

"Where are we going?" Rush didn't turn to answer him. He just kept walking with Young right behind him. The hallways were still long and like a maze, but Rush navigated them with confidence. He stopped in front of a door different than the rest, a bronze door without a rotating lock. Rush pressed the button on the side of the wall and the door opened. Rush led him into the bridge and stood by the center console.

"I need someone else to help me. Could you?" he asked, gesturing at the next station.

"Colonel Young, this is Dr. Rush. Come in please," Rush asked.

Young opened his eyes. He was lying on his back in his bed, staring up at his ceiling.

"Colonel Young," Rush asked again on his radio. "You're needed on the bridge."

He slowly rolled to his side and grabbed his radio. He held it up and paused before pressing it. "Understood, I'll be right there." He sat up and put his radio on his belt. He put on his Air Force shirt and stood up. He opened his door and walked down the hallways, having no trouble making his way to the bridge this time. Rush, Brody, and Volker were seated at their usual seats, Kalin was at the science terminal and Brooks and Wray were standing near the center chair. "Report," he said as he walked down the steps.

"We're one minute from the planet," Rush said without turning around.

"Those four ships are still there in a close orbit over their planet," Kalin said. He turned in his chair to look at Young. "They seem to be in geosynchronous orbit over the same area on the northern part of the largest continent. That might be where their command facilities are," he noted.

"That seems plausible," Young said, nodding approvingly at Kalin. "How are our weapons?" he asked taking a seat in his chair.

"All the platforms are ready," Brody said. "The main weapon is deployed, even though I'm not sure how wise that is in F.T.L. If we come out on top of them we should have a good arc of fire with the platforms, and we'll be lucky if we have one right in front of us."

"TJ says that everyone except Morrison is back on their feet," Wray said. "He's still in a bad condition, but stabilized for the moment. She's ready to take on more wounded, just in case."

Young turned to look at her, but was careful to avoid looking at Brooks. "Good."

Wray nodded casually at him. "I suppose I'll join her there; lend a hand." She quickly departed. Brooks just stood her ground, but didn't say anything.

"We're dropping into normal space!" Rush said.

Young stared out of the window watching the vortex glow brighter and felt the transition to normal space. Right off the bow he saw a Nati ship and judging from the multitude of proximity alarms, the other ships weren't that far off.

"Target them and fire!" Young said, not waiting a second.

"Copy that!" Brody said. "I've got the main weapon, you take the other platforms," he told Volker. "Firing at their power core!" Brody quickly pressed a set of buttons, and Young saw a series of bright orange bolts lash out off of _Destiny_'s bow and crash into the aft of the Nati ship. A mass of other smaller orange bolts flew out from all points on _Destiny_'s hull. Explosions rippled across the hull of the first ship and spread from the aft to encompass the lateral hull. A massive detonation went off near the original strikes and blew the whole of the ship from the inside out, literally ripping it to shreds. "Confirmed kill!"

Another muffled explosion on the port followed by streams of debris entered the frame of view. "Make that kills! That's three down!" Volker shouted back. The fourth ship entered the viewport. There was extensive damage to its aft section, but it had managed to open fire already. A few blue pulses plowed into _Destiny_'s shields, one near the bridge. The ship rocked and circuit exploded behind Young. "They've taken heavy damage but they've raised their shields!" Volker reported. "There were only two platforms in arc of that ship."

"Rush, move us in position to fire the main weapon!" he shouted as another explosion on the left sent sparks across the room. Rush silently obliged, and Young felt the ship arc right and the Nati vessel slowly moved into center view of _Destiny_.

"That's it! Firing!" Brody reported. Another volley of heavy bolts flew into the enemy ship and slammed into their lateral shields.

"I'm reading an overload in their shield generator!" Kalin yelled. "It looks like they lost a stabilizer in their power transfer systems. Power is feeding back into their core!"

"Back us off Rush," Young said quickly. "I don't want to be near them if they explode!" Before another could be done, a bright light filled the view ports and the Nati ship was encompassed in it. A moment later a shock wave rocked _Destiny_. Brooks grabbed the console near her to hold steady. "Talk to me, people! Are they done for?"

"Yes, sir!" Kalin called from the back of the room. "All ships are destroyed. I'm not reading any active power signatures from the wrecks." He turned to face Young. "We're clear to proceed."

Young rose from his seat and grabbed his radio. "Corporal Reynolds, this is Young. Are you ready in the shuttle?"

There was a moment of static. "Yes, sir. The rescue team is prepped and waiting."

"Copy, I'll be right there." He started to walk out of the room. He stopped at the railing and looked back on the bridge crew. "Good work here everyone. You all did a good job here." He looked at Rush as he said that. "Now let's keep that up and get the rest of our people back."

* * *

><p><em>In two weeks, on the all new episode of Stargate Universe. The crew executes a daring rescue plan to retrieve their missing members, but being in the heart of the enemy territory with more ships coming and no easy way out, no one is safe.<em>


	4. Flight

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_Thank you greatly to my readers! I love all of you! Obviously not a huge deal, but I got past 1,600 hits as of now, and that just really makes me happy! THANK YOU EVERYONE! Special thanks to those you reviewed it! The support really is amazing in my opinion! Or maybe I'm just really easy to please..._

_Here it comes to you: episode four. This is the end of the three-part arc, but that doesn't mean the plot is anywhere near being done. Still some loose ends, and more tid bits of things to come to keep you interested. I love some of the interest readers have taken to details in the story. GenoBeast, I had to give Rush some humanity. Malfoystinksstinks and AlexanderD, you've mentioned some good points about the story, and I just hope I can get them to work. Keep reviewing! Some reviews have proven to be very inspiring, and I really just love reading them._

_The next episode will go up next Sunday on schedule, so I can only hope I can balance all my work well so I can have time to write a good one (wish me luck!). I'm sorry this one came out kinda late in the day. And now, please enjoy!_

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode "Worship" and "Heretics". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>304: Flight<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery __by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_They're firing on us!_

_There's a large amount of information stored on the Ancient database on the planet._

_I can't trust the man, Camille._

_We need to keep moving forward, but more than that, we need to keep moving forward_ _together_.

_These devices were originally designed to extract information._

_Greer! It's pretty bad. We've gotta get him back to _Destiny_, and soon._

_Hopefully we have a_ Destiny _to return him to._

_TJ says that everyone except Morrison is back on their feet._

_I sorted through _Destiny'_s_ _sensor logs and found the specific frequency used by their communications, and used that to search for their ships. We're more than just outnumbered. However, it does seem that most of their ships are concentrated in a region of only a few hundred light-years in area._

_Dr. Ryder? Are you okay?_

_It's still me. I did say permanent, didn't I?_

_Why are you really here?_

_That's not for you to know. Just take what the IOA said and walk with it Colonel._

_For now._

_You seem to have a knack for getting a target painted on your head._

_You know I'm can't tell him why I'm here._

_Good work here everyone. You all did a good job here. Now let's keep that up and get the rest of our people back."_

* * *

><p>The shuttle jerked hard right as the Colonel changed course to avoid the mass of debris that was strewn in the orbit around the planet. Four ships really could leave a lot of trash once they got blown up. Young was having a bit of a hard time flying through the debris field. The shields kept all of the small debris from hurting the shuttle, but anything big wouldn't be fun too flying into. He cleared through the debris field and looked at the planet. Streaming lines of fire seared across the atmosphere, the larger pieces of debris burning up on re-entry.<p>

"Alright everyone!" Young said to the assault team. "It's gonna be a rough ride."

Right on cue, the shuttle rocked violently, jostling Young in his seat. He kept a firm grip on the console and held the shuttle's course. White-gray clouds rushed past the shuttle's view as they past rapidly through the atmosphere. Within a minute the clouds passed and Young could see the surface.

Young activate the comm on the shuttle. "_Destiny_, we're through the atmosphere and heading to the coordinates that mark the Stargate. With any luck, they should be holding our people there."

"Copy that Colonel," Rush said over the comm line. "Be advised, I'm tracking a large fleet of ships heading this way. We only have a few hours before we're overrun."

"Understood," Young responded. He gazed out through the window and saw a large complex right where the 'Gate should be. "We'll be quick. Young out." He terminated the comm line and accelerated the shuttle. A loud beep went off and the shuttle rocked again.

"What was that?" Reynolds asked from his seat, clutching onto the harness.

Young looked to Barnes sitting at the weapons terminal. "We've got company, Colonel," she said worriedly. "Six enemy fighters approaching."

A small blue pulse whizzed right in front of the shuttle as a fighter fired at the shuttle. Young arced the shuttle right and turned to face the incoming attackers. He saw six small pods in the distance, rapidly closing in. "Corporal, fire as soon as you have a shot."

Barnes nodded and targeted the nearest fighter. In another moment, dozens of bright orange pulses flew out from both sides of the shuttle. The six fighters dispersed, avoiding most of the shots. One fighter took a partial fight to its side and lost control. In a trail of smoke Young watched it spin down into the forest and explode. The other five pods spread apart from each other and were approaching on random vectors, frustrating the targeting computer and Barnes. "I can't get a lock on them."

Young pulled up quickly to avoid weapons fire. He picked one fighter and set right after it. "Take them down, one at a time." He did his best to keep on the fighter, but it was much smaller and faster than the shuttle. He heard the low hum as the weapons fired, and watched as the fighter was dodging them easily. A circuit above his head exploded as the shuttle was hit, and the shields shimmered for a brief second, blocking his view. When he could see again, the fighter in front of him was gone, replaced by a large ball of fire. He turned to Barnes quickly. "Nice shot."

He turned the shuttle hard left and faced the remaining four fighters. They had regrouped and were all firing at them. Young navigated the shuttle carefully and adroitly, avoiding most of the shots. Barnes was firing back with a wide spread, trying to target them all. One of the shots met its mark, hitting the top fighter. It went flying down and collided with another one, sending them spiraling as one wreck to the ground.

They last two fighters were close; close enough the Barnes easily acquired a lock on them and sent them both to the ground. Young acknowledged her good work and flew the shuttle straight for the complex. It was a large building, a few stories high and right in the middle of the forest. It stood to reason that there was more underground. He saw what looked like a road or run-way leading off I a couple of directions, probably leading to other cities or military sites. Either way, they could prove to be sources of trouble. Scrutinizing the building closely, he couldn't see visible opening. He decelerated and hovered right in front of the complex, not high off the ground. "Barnes, make a hole in there," he ordered. She nodded, and fired off a couple of shots, leaving a burning opening in the wall. He landed the shuttle with the nose to the hole and powered down. He unbuckled his harness and got up, grabbing his weapon. The door hissed open and he walked outside, breathing in the fresh air. Trees surrounded them from the rear of the shuttle, but it wasn't thick and he couldn't see anything moving in the forest.

He turned back to look at his team. "Barnes, you and Garcia stay here. Defend the shuttle." Both of them nodded to his order. "Reynolds, get your people together, now. Move out!"

Reynolds and his team quickly flowed out of the shuttle, and Barnes sealed it shut after them. Young took point, walking up to the opening and climbing through it, carefully avoiding the searing edges. He aimed his rifle forward and turned his flashlight on. The hallway they were in looked just like that of _Destiny_. Only right now it was dark and it looked like the weapons fire had knocked power off in this area.

"Hamilton, Pearson," Young said, pointing to the door at the end of the hall. "Take positions and breach." The two airmen nodded and ran off down the hall, flanking either side of the door. Young crouched and aimed at the door as Hamilton palmed the door lock and opened it. The center lock rotated, and the door slid open. The other side was lit, and had two Nati soldiers patrolling down the hall. They both started and raised their weapons. Pearson fired first, bringing one guard to the ground. Young rose and fired one precise shot at the other's leg. He dropped his weapon and fell down, clutching his wounded leg. Young ran up to him. "Hold your fire!"

He reached the injured Nati, and watched as the rest of the rest of his team came through the door, defending the position. Young bent down near the guard and threw his weapon away from him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the translator Wray had given him. He placed it on his temple and winced slightly. The guard wasn't wearing one, but after a quick inspection of his pockets, Young found one. He put it on the guard's temple and held him up by the collar of his uniform.

"My people. Where are they?" Young growled.

"Even if I tell you, we won't let you escape," the guard struggled to say. "We'll hunt you down and destroy you all! Like we did any of the others that dare desecrate the Lord's property!"

Young tightened his grip, putting one hand on the guard's throat and squeezing. "Then you've got nothing to lose by telling me where they are!" The guard choked and kicked around, trying to get free, but Young was holding on firmly. "Where are they?" he shouted. The Nati moved his lips like he was trying to speak, and Young loosened his grip slightly.

"Holding room… near… the Ring," he spat out the words. Young released him, and guard fell to the ground, coughing roughly. "Our people will stop you. Your numbers are too small. Go, go and be slaughtered there!"

He lifted him off of the ground and pinned him to the wall. "Well you're going to show us where it is," he said. Young heard a whirring sound and turned to see the door at the other end of the hall slid open. Three more Nati guards stormed in, and they fired immediately. Young ducked to avoid a shot, and upon raising his head smelled burning flesh. The guard he was holding had a large burn across his chest, and he had gone limp. Young threw him down and raised his own weapon. His entire team fired quickly, and the three guards were easily subdued.

Young picked up a Nati weapon of the ground. He figured it might come in handy at some point. "Guess we need to find our own way," he said. He paused and thought for a moment. Digging into his own vest pockets, he pulled out a dialing remote. He activated it and searched for the 'Gate. A small map of the area appeared, and the position of the 'Gate appeared. "We can use this to find the Gate Room. We'll look around there for our people." Reynolds nodded.

Taking point again, Young walked off down the hall, using the remote to guide him.

* * *

><p>"That was probably some of the easiest damage we've ever had to repair," Volker noted to Brody. They were walking down the hall from a point down closer to the bow of the ship where a weapon platform was damaged. They used one of the last spares to fix it effortlessly. Brody didn't say anything but kept walking. They passed the Infirmary and Volker stopped in front of it. Noticing he only heard himself walking, Brody turned around.<p>

"You coming?" he asked. Rush was alone on the bridge right now, and he didn't feel like leaving him there much longer.

Volker stared inside for a moment and then turned to Brody. "Give me a minute. I'll be right behind you." Brody sighed and walked off. He slowly strolled into the Infirmary and looked around. TJ was typing at her laptop; it looked like she was doing some research on the medical database. There were a couple of people lying of beds. One was Morrison; he didn't look conscious and was pretty well wrapped up. Lisa was on another bed. She was holding onto a flower that she had kept in stasis with her. She was slowly feeling the petals and the stem, trying to understand as much about it as she could from touch.

He took a small breath and walked up to her. His footsteps echoed through the floor paneling and Lisa moved her head up. She was staring past him, only her head moving.

"Hi," he said lightly as he got closer. "How are you feeling?" He sat down in a chair beside her bed.

She held onto the flower a little tighter. "Um, I'm fine. I just knew I couldn't be of any help, so I figured I'd stay here; out of the way." She sat up a little higher, carefully feeling around the bed. "I heard Young is trying to rescue the team. Is there any news on it?"

"They made it to the planet," he said. "But we don't know anything else. They haven't communicated since."

She sat silently and kept gently rubbing the flower. "You know," she said slowly, "my favorite thing to do as a kid was watch my mother's garden. I would help her plant stuff all the time, but to me, watching them grow, bloom, that was the fun stuff. I never realized just how special that was to me, such a simple thing." Her voice cracked a little and she squeezed the flower's stem tighter. "I'd do that here too sometimes. Just sit, and watch the plants in the dome. Waiting for them to grow big and bloom. To feel that satisfaction. Now," she said, tears flowing, "I can't even do that. I can't see the one thing that made this ship home to me."

Volker slowly stretched out a shaking hand and grasped hers, holding tightly. She seemed to nod slightly, acknowledging him. He stood and walked out of the Infirmary, looking back at Lisa holding the flower. He unconsciously walked down the hall, making his way to the bridge, but his mind stayed in the Infirmary. That is, until shouting from the bridge snapped him back to reality.

"...don't think you have the right to accuse me of anything!" he heard Rush scream.

"The Colonel told me about it and that you wanted it," Brody said back. "Someone had to do it!"

Volker ran in and saw Brody and Rush standing on opposite sides of the central chair. "What's going on here?"

Brody turned to Volker and jabbed a finger accusingly at Rush. "The computer just locked up and a massive download started!"

"What?" Volker said, staring at Rush with disbelief and worry covering his face. "Wait, what do you mean the computer locked up?"

"I _mean_, it locked up!" Brody shouted. "All primary systems went into some kind of stand-by mode and _Destiny_ began to download massive amounts of information from the planet. Huge portions of the computer are being rewritten and patched up." Brody looked more severe and worried now. "We can't access anything. Weapons, F.T.L., sensors. Nothing." He lowered his voice and looked to Rush accusingly. "There's an enemy fleet coming, right here, and there's nothing we can do to defend ourselves."

* * *

><p>As he paced down the length of the hall, Tarym was contemplating the situation that he had been thrown into. The shame on his part was great. He was the leader who thought he finally met the Lords. Such an achievement would present such prestige.<p>

And yet, this entire situation had proven to be nothing but a failure for him, and a terrible blemish upon his reign. Despite his best effort, he had no success in crushing the craft and its blasphemous inhabitants. He had even taken a group of their people as his own, and yet could obtain nothing useful.

It was horrid. Hundreds of lives of his people were lost. They had destroyed so much of their fleet. Their one ship had inflicted the most serious loss his people had ever suffered in the last century. And now they were here, come to his world to rain death from the sky. Their craft were approaching his complex and they were unstoppable. His time of ruling over his people was being undone in mere hours, and he could see nothing that could be done to stop these people.

The human they named Eli had proven of no use. His knowledge was vast, that was undoubtedly true, but everything he knew was already known. It did prove his expertise in the Lord's technology, and casted doubt on the beliefs of his people, but only he had seen that knowledge, and refused to let that corrupting information fall into the hands of his people. Utter chaos and a sense of despair would be the only repercussion. He could not let that happen to his people. It was better to allow them to believe these humans must be destroyed. Everything else could be handled after that.

Tarym realized that it was futile to try and stop the humans here. They could move quickly and were powerful. He needed to survive their assault here and organize his people to fight back. He walked down the hallway and to the interrogation room. He glared at the weakened and mentally drained human whom was sunken in his chair, and stared at him.

Eli slowly lifted his head and looked back at his captor. Tarym knelt down in front of him and looked square into his eyes. He showed none of the concern or worry that was filling his mind. From his many interrogations of enemy transgressors he learned weakness was never a good thing to show them. "You don't possess anything of any use to me." He couldn't respond. Eli's body was so weakened, and he could barely feel. "Except yourself of course. You are going to help me to destroy your people."

A guard came up from behind Tarym, and Eli saw him raise a gun at him. He was blinded by the bright pulse, and effortlessly passed out.

* * *

><p>Young was quite surprised at how empty this place was. At the breach they had met two patrols, but since then they hadn't crossed paths with a single Nati. While he ignored everything the guard told him except the cell location, he had taken his warning of large numbers of soldiers to mind. And yet, there was nobody. He was incredibly disconcerted by this, but ignored the ache in his gut and pushed forward. He looked back down to his remote.<p>

"Gate Room should be right through that door," he said, pointing the barrel of his gun at the only door at the far end of the hall. Young rushed up to the door and flanked it from the right with Pearson behind him, and Reynolds with Hamilton on the other side. "On three," he whispered, tucking the remote safely away in a pocket, letting him use both hands to grasp his weapon. "One… two… three." He nudged the door lock with his elbow, and the door slid open. Pearson and Hamilton darted in quickly, their rifles moving and scanning the room. Reynolds went after them, and Young took the rear.

The room was empty. Young didn't bother to look for anything. It was devoid of everything except the 'Gate itself.

"I really hope I'm not the only one with a bad feeling about this," Reynolds commented as he lowered his weapon and sealed the door behind them.

Young glanced quickly at him but said nothing. Honestly he had a very bad feeling about this, but his need to find his people was greater than that. They had found the Gate Room, so assuming the guard had told the truth, Eli and the others should be nearby. He set himself up in the center of the room. "Okay, we're gonna split up and try to find our people quickly," he said loudly.

Before he could continue giving more orders he was stopped by another voice.

"Hello?" The voice was muffled, but seemed to be coming from nearby.

Young slowly moved down to the left of the room, when the voice seemed to have come from.

"Who's there?" he replied.

"Colonel? Is that you?" The voice was clearer and more distinct that time, undoubtedly coming from Lt. Scott.

"Scott!" Young said, relief flooding his body. He didn't let that relief go anywhere else though. "Where are you?" he asked calmly but urgently.

"We're still locking in the holding room," Scott said saddened.

"Alright. Keep talking," Young said, already through the nearest door and moving down the hallway. "Help me find you."

"Yes sir," Scott replied. "Did you come through the 'Gate?"

He quickened his pace down the hall as he saw a different style door all the way down. Gut feeling said door number one might be useful this time. "No. We brought _Destiny_. It's waiting in orbit." He ran up and thumbed a small button on the side of the door. It hissed and slid open, revealing Scott standing right up against it. "And we're gonna take you all with us."

"Colonel!" Chloe yelled. She was on the ground kneeling over Eli. Greer was on the ground with blood staining his waist and James was tightening a bandage over it.

"What happened to him?" Young asked, pointing to Greer.

"He was shot. He really needs help," Scott answered.

Young's radio went off at that moment. "Colonel, this is Barnes."

"Go ahead," he said, lowering his rifle.

"The proximity alarm just went off on the shuttle. We've got multiple fighters inbound for the compound. They'll be here less than one minute." Barnes warned.

"Copy that," Young replied. It all made sense now. "They've abandoned their facility," he said to Scott, who seemed slightly puzzled by Barnes' report. He understood too.

"Scorched earth."

"They're gonna try anything to get rid of us. We need to hurry to the shuttle." He walked up to Greer. He was conscious, but in pain. The bleeding looked under control for now, but that would change as soon as they started to move him.

"Good to see you Colonel," Greer said through his teeth. "Knew you'd come back for us."

"Don't worry, Greer. We're gonna get you all patched up," Young reassured him, even though Greer was one of the last people that would ever need to be reassured about anything.

He looked over to Eli who was unconscious on the floor. "What about Eli? Is he okay?"

Chloe held his shoulder. "We're not sure. They took him away, interrogated him. He came back like this."

Young nodded. He slung his weapon around behind him, getting it out of his way. "Greer, can you try to walk?" Greer responded with a small nod, and he looked confident about his feelings. "Okay, Scott, let's help Eli back." He grabbed onto Eli's right side, and Scott took him by the left. They started to move him out of the room. James helped Greer up and he leaned on her. "Corporal, lead the way," he said to Reynolds.

They had only walked a few meters down the hall before they felt the compound shake. The lights flickered slightly, but there wasn't any visible damage.

"Let's keep moving!" Young shouted back to the group, moving as quickly as he could. Reynolds was retracing their path in reverse perfectly so far. They had passed through the Gate Room and were on their way back to the shuttle.

* * *

><p>Brody slammed his fist on the console in extreme agitation. "No luck. We're completely locked out of all operations." He let out a nervous breathe and leaned back in the chair. "I don't think there's anything we can do."<p>

On the opposite side of the bridge, Volker also gave up his fruitless attempts to get the download to stop. Nothing worked at all.

"The only thing we can do," Rush spoke up from the central chair, "is let the download take place."

"You'd love that wouldn't you?" Brody scoffed. "To get all of the information from the planet. Whatever the Ancients might have left there." He got up and walked to Rush. "We have no idea what that database contains! Maybe those Nati corrupted it! We don't know."

"Yeah, and what started it?" Volker added from his seat.

"Well it wasn't me," Rush noted. "It was an automatic transfer. Once we got close enough to the planet, in a close orbit, the download started on its own. That should be proof enough it was an Ancient database. It was waiting for _Destiny_ to get here." He paused and looked at the blank monitors. "Whatever is on that database, the Ancients wanted us to have it."

Brody glared at Rush. "You mean you want us to have it."

"I won't deny it Mr. Brody," Rush returned bitterly. "Any information we can gain can only help us."

Brody surrendered to Rush. He knew nothing he could say would affect his opinion, and right now there was nothing else to do to stop it.

"Can we speed it up?" Volker said. Rush looked up at him, his interest piqued. "I mean the problem is that our systems are down because of this. What if we could speed up the download?"

"That's a wonderful suggestion Mr. Volker," Rush said drily, "but how do you intend to do that? We can't _do_ anything."

Volker sat in his chair, trying to think of something but coming up blank.

"I suggest we just wait it out," Rush replied with a sigh. "We've already received several terabytes of data. I can't imagine there would be too much more."

"This is the Ancients we're talking about," Brody said. "They don't do small."

"I'd still like to know what we're taking on this ship," Volker returned, slumping back into his chair in defeat.

* * *

><p>"We're just about there," Young said. He was getting tired, that was the full truth. But after a few minutes of fast paces walking they reached the breach they had inflicted. Surprisingly, even though the fighters were blasting the hell out of this complex, they weren't having much luck damaging it. It seemed that the Nati couldn't effectively destroy Ancient structures. That was a good thing in his mind.<p>

A blue pulse whizzed and slammed into the shuttle's shield just as they reached a visible view of it. Young stopped a few feet from the breach and peered out. Several fighters were flying low and around the shuttle, hitting it and preventing him and his people from getting back. Everyone else gathered behind him.

"Colonel?" Scott asked.

Young yanked his radio and pressed the talk button. "Barnes, I'm going to need you to turn the shuttle around so we can get in. Park it right in the breach if you can."

"Sir?" her voice came back, slightly unsettled. She had never had that much practice with flying the shuttle, and that was a precise move he was asking for.

"Just do it, and now!" he replied harshly, returning the radio to his vest.

Looking through the breach he could see Barnes in the cockpit. She nervously took the seat and the shuttle's engines roared to life. It lifted off the ground slowly and not smoothly, but it was holding a position a few feet above ground. Another pulse hit it, knocking it down a little. It rumbled loudly as it turned, and soon Young could see the door. It moved back, not slowly, and slammed into the breach, the shields shimmering and sending metal flying. Young protected Eli from the debris, and once the loud crash subsided, he looked back up.

The rear was completely in the complex, and the door opened. Garcia was standing on the other side, and offered an arm as the shuttle was a couple meters above ground level. Young and Scott moved Eli to the door and lifted him on the shuttle's floor.

"Everyone inside, now!" Young shouted. James and Greer walked up next, and Greer grimaced as he was pulled up. Garcia and James laid him flat on the seat, and Young could see the wound bleeding out freshly. The rest of the team quickly filed into the shuttle. Young closed the door and relieved Barnes at the controls. She gladly capitulated and retook her position at the weapons. Scott sat at the computer station to the left. Young activated the comm system. "_Destiny_, this is Young. We've got everyone and are heading back. Be warned, we've got enemy fighters on our tail." He pushed the acceleration to maximum and flew out from the compound, heading straight for the sky. He passed a couple of fighters as they turned violently to change course. The loud beeps told him there was a large mass of them forming behind the shuttle.

"Copy that," Brody said on the line, "but we've got some problems on our end as well." The line was filled with static after that as Brody paused and thought about how to word it best.

"Explain," Young barked, not wanting to wait.

"_Destiny_ started an automated download a short while after you left. A large program is being downloaded and the computer is on stand-by. We can't do anything right now," Brody said.

"Damn it," he muttered. "Do you have shields?"

"Yes, but we have no control. All basic protocols are down. The shield wouldn't reform to encompass the shuttle," Volker reported. "You won't be able to safely dock with the ship."

A group of blue pulses whizzed by the shuttle, and it jolted as a couple found their mark. "Well we can't stay here. I'll bring the shuttle back to _Destiny_ and we'll get everything sorted out then." He arced the shuttle up quickly and sped to space. The fighters were still right behind him and gaining.

"Understood Colonel," Brody said with doubt.

As they passed through the atmosphere he could see out clearer into space. _Destiny_ became visible quickly, even if it was a long way off.

"Scott, give me a count on enemy contacts," Young ordered, pushing the engines as hard as possible.

"Uh, I'm seeing at _least_ thirty on our 6, and a lot more heading up from the surface," he answered worriedly. Young took the shuttle into a roll as a flurry of weapons fire came towards the shuttle. He dodged the majority, but the shields took the remaining easily. They were within twenty kilometers of _Destiny_ now. Not that far to go. "Colonel! The fighters coming from the planet are heading straight for the ship." A louder beep went off and everyone turned to Scott. "A ship just dropped out of F.T.L. a hundred kilometers off of us, and it's heading for _Destiny_ too. Sir, they've got no weapons, and we can't hope to fight all of them off."

"Well we're going to have to try," Young said. He turned the nose to face the oncoming fighters from the planet and gave Barnes the signal to open fire.

* * *

><p>"I thought we left the other galaxy to get <em>out<em> of this situation!" Volker shouted. A circuit blew over his head and the ship jostled violently. Looking out through the bridge window he could see dozens of small fighters circling _Destiny_ and punishing the ship with weapons fire. It didn't look too dissimilar to the drones at all.

"What the hell is going on?" Brooks yelled as she stormed onto the bridge, Kalin running up behind her. "Why aren't we firing back? Don't just stand there." She ran up to the center station and entered in a command to fire, but then stood perplexed as the computer refused to do anything. "What's wrong?" she said, turning to face Rush.

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Of course every problem on this ship is my bloody fault."

"Based on what I've read," she said coldly.

Rush stared darkly at her. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is not my fault."

She turned to look at Brody. He sighed as he was forced to repeat the news again. "_Destiny_ is taking on a large program from an Ancient database on the planet. The data is rewriting most of the base protocols in the ship's computer." She turned back and stared angrily at Rush. "Based on what's happening and sensor logs we can access, he's telling the truth." Rush returned her gaze more mildly and just shrugged at her.

The ship rocked and the lights flickered again. Brooks held onto the console, but Rush just held his ground. "Then what do you suggest we do, if you've got all the answers?"

"We wait," he said simply.

She stared incredulously at him. "Wait for what? For the enemy to destroy us?"

The monitors swung down and lit up, and the consoles came to life as the bridge echoed a loud ping. "No, I'd say we had to wait for that," he calmly rebuked, heading to the left station. "The download is complete. The ship is responsive again."

A long sustained rumble was felt through the ship and the bridge lowered itself. "What's happening?" Volker asked, talking his seat at the center station.

Rush skimmed through the read-out on his console. "_Destiny_ is moving to intercept the Nati ship. We've deployed weapons and are firing." He held onto the console, bracing himself as they took heavy fire.

"Did we do that?" Brooks asked.

He shook his head. "No. I guess we still don't have control. The computer itself is leading the attack." He guffawed at the output and reclined back into his chair, not enjoying being out of power again.

"_Destiny_, this is Young," he said over the comm line. "I can see you moving and engaging the enemy. I take it that's a good sign?"

Rush sighed and stared at his console. "Yes and no Colonel. The download is done, but the computer AI is in control of the ship."

"Can we dock the shuttle? It's getting tough out here for us." An explosion was heard over comm line, indicating the heavy fire the shuttle was taking.

"I imagine so," Rush said. The countdown clock reactivated with a new time. "Make it quick, Colonel. We've only two minutes until we jump to F.T.L."

"Understood." Watching the center monitor, Brooks could see the small white outline of the shuttle make a beeline for the ship. There were dozens of red dots surrounding it, and dozens more around _Destiny_. A set of circuits exploded in the back, and Kalin flinched as sparks flew across him. He quickly ran to the science station.

"I'm going to try and see if I can figure out what the AI is and what it's trying to do," Kalin said.

"The main weapon is powering down and retracting," Brody said. "Power is being transferred to shields.

"_Destiny_, we've just docked," Young said.

"Confirmed Colonel. The shields are attenuating around the shuttle. You're secure," Rush said."

"I'll be on the bridge soon. We have wounded I need to get the TJ first."

"Understood." Rush sat helplessly at his station. He couldn't find himself doing anything except watch the output of the computer. _Destiny_ had managed to inflict serious losses on the fighters. The targeting computer was very good apparently. Too good really. What had that program done to this ship?

The clock beeped as the time hit zero, and the ship accelerated forward quickly. Volker rested his head on the back of his chair and let out a deep breath. "Oh my God, I am getting tired of this."

Rush sat in his chair thinking for a moment, and then rose, walking to the door. "Well I certainly don't love it either," he mumbled as he walked out.

Brooks sat in the center chair and glared at Brody. "I never thought you would cover Rush."

"I didn't," he rebuked. "He couldn't have initiated the download on a remote database that easily. It had to have been automated."

She leaned forward and cupped her hands. "I don't like anything about this entire affair."

Volker scoffed. "That's ironic."

"And why is that?" she asked coldly.

"Because," he said, turning his chair, frowning at her, "no one likes this affair with you being here, taking over someone for good. It doesn't help you're not telling anyone why either."

She smirked at him. "I didn't know you supported Young in his opinions that much either."

"On a ship like this, we don't keep secrets. It only hurts us." He turned back to his console and stared at the output. "We've learned it the hard way."

* * *

><p>Young groaned as he lowered Eli onto one of the vacant beds. James put Greer on the empty one next to him. The room wasn't too crowded, even after the most recent attack. It hadn't been too bad apparently and there weren't too many injuries that required TJ's assistance. Morrison was still in a bed, but Park had been sent back to her quarters to make more room here. Once Greer was safely placed on the bed, TJ came up and inspected his wound.<p>

"Can you help him?" Young asked.

She undid some of the bandage and tried to judge the extent of the injury. "I can't be sure. I'll need to look deeper."

He nodded. "What about Eli?"

"I imagine he'll come around, but if I don't get Greer into surgery now, I might not be able to do anything for him." She didn't wait and got a tray of equipment next to Greer.

Young didn't feel like waiting for anything to happen and walked out of the Infirmary. He quickly paced himself to the Control Interface Room where he saw Rush seated at the console nearest the Core. He didn't wait for Rush to turn and face him. He grabbed Rush and pulled him from the console, slamming his back into the Core. "I told you, we weren't here for the data! We could have lost everybody!"

Fighting Young's grip was useless, so Rush was just struggling aimlessly. "As I've already told everyone, I didn't start the download!"

Young lost his focus and loosened his grip. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's more to this encounter than just what we're seeing," Rush said, pushing Young off and standing firmly by the Core. "The Ancients don't do anything just because they feel like it. There is a reason to everything, and there is a reason these humans exist here. I _know_ that that reason is important to us, just like everything up to now has been important."

"You really think the Ancients had some plan for this ship? Something for down the road?" Young asked sarcastically, backing up and staring at him. "They abandoned the damn mission, Rush. I can't see them planning for something that they never took the time to take up themselves."

"Well it doesn't matter what the Ancients planned for themselves, now does it? We're here right now, and it matters for us. Everything matters for us."

Young sighed and stared at the Core. Rush was right that they needed answers, and that everything affected them in profound ways. He just wished that maybe a new galaxy could bring a change to their luck.

"In this particular case," Rush continued, still adamant about his point, "there is a plan in the works. At least some kind of plan."

"What do you mean, exactly?" Young asked. He was tired of half-truths and assumptions. Rush understood whatever was going on here, and he needed to know too.

He stared lightly at Young, not with anger or hatred, but almost a willingness to comply. He sat at the farther console and brought up the holographic display. It showed the galaxy they were in with a jagged line cutting through the diameter of it. "The download contained massive amounts of new protocols, one of which set us back on a pre-determined course. It also set a master code in place over the navigation systems."

Young glared at the display and felt a knot grow in his stomach. "So we're back to where we started? No control over the ship?"

"No, not exactly," Rush answered rather hesitantly. "We have control over shields, weapons, communication, but as soon as I try to control the countdown clock or our course, the computer kicks me out again. We have to go somewhere specific, and the ship is gonna make sure we get there. Otherwise, it seems we have control." He paused and considered his words. "However, it does seem the ship has a certain amount of assertive control now." Young turned to face him, puzzlement lining his countenance. "When we were attacked, the ship attacked the Nati, not us. It seems the new information in the computer gave the ship a stronger ability for self-defense."

"We'll that's a problem, not knowing when the computer might take over control," Young noted.

"I don't think it'd pose a problem. Most likely it would only assert control to defend the ship," Rush countered. "However, this situation does create another problem for us." He pressed several button and a series of dots appeared along the path. "We were relying on our control of the course to escape the Nati space. Now, we are heading along a predetermined course that is taking us through their space with fifteen planned F.T.L. drop-outs."

Young looked at _Destiny_'s current position, and the location of the nearest drop-out point. "Can you still track their ships?" Rush nodded. "Do they have in this area?" he asked, pointing to the first dot.

He sighed and pushed another set of buttons. "I imagine they would. That first location comes out in orbit of a planet for a scheduled re-fuel," he predicted. The map refreshed itself with the new data, and both of them stared aghast at it.

"What the hell," Young mumbled. The map of the galaxy had shown around one hundred ships when they had originally tracked their fleet. Now, there were only five, and none of them were anywhere near _Destiny_. "What happened Rush? Did they change their communications frequency so we can't track them?"

"I don't know. But then why are we still getting those five?" Rush asked, as perplexed as the commander.

"How many were at that planet before we lost the link?" Young asked, staring worriedly at the upcoming planet. Rush sat and backtracked through the logs.

"There were twelve there," he said.

"And if they masked their ships," Young said carefully glaring at the display, "we could be flying into an ambush."

* * *

><p>Wray in her quarters watching the F.T.L. vortex rush by her window. She would rather be in the Observation Deck, but Brody had sealed it off while the remainder of the damage was being taken care of. Somehow, the view just wasn't the same out of a small little window. She sat for a while, but soon felt thirsty and rose. The Mess wasn't too far, so she walked down to it and got herself a cup of tea. They had managed to preserve some leaves and petals from the flowers from hydroponics in stasis, and Wray had made tea dregs out of them. They were bitter, but she loved it. Hopefully they could rebuild the dome and start planting again soon.<p>

She took the cup and walked down the halls of the ship. There was no one else in halls but her. It was technically night-time, so everyone was probably asleep. It was hard trying to figure out night and day when everything looked the same all the time. They just tried to keep it in synch from the moment of their arrival on _Destiny_. She entered the narrower corridors and passed by TJ walking from the Infirmary.

"Hey, Camille," she said sleepily.

Wray smiled back and took another sip from her tea. "Are you okay?"

TJ rubbed her eyes. "I think I could use a cup of that myself," she answered, trying to deflect the entirety of the question.

"I've got some more of the dregs," she offered.

She nodded her head appreciatively. "Thanks, I would love that." They both turned to return to the Mess Hall.

"Big day for you?" Wray asked after another warm sip of the tea.

TJ scoffed. "Terrible day is more like it. Both Morrison and Greer are doing badly, and Eli looks like he's in a coma." She sighed and showed her agitation at her failure to help these people on her face.

"How bad is Greer?"

She stopped looked out of a window on the side of the hall. Wray walked a step ahead and then turned to look at her. "I've stopped the internal bleeding and removed the bullet. There's a chance of infection from being in that cell, but that's not the bad part." She took a breath and continued to gaze out for a moment before folding her arms and turning to Wray. "The bullet grazed his kidney, and it's not working well now. Normally I'd try dialysis, but we don't have the right equipment for that here."

"What about a donor for a transplant?" Wray asked.

"We were lucky the first time, finding Greer to help Volker. Now, I don't think I can help him." She started to walk again, slower this time. "Morrison was the only other member of the crew with a close enough compatibility to Greer, and he's in critical condition as well. There's no way I could use him as a donor, even if he agreed."

Wray took the last small sip of her tea. "So what are our options?"

"I don't think we have any, other than try to repair the damage itself."

"You've been looking through the Ancient and Novus databases. Is there anything on tissue growth, or nanotechnology for medicine?"

"If there is I haven't found it. And even if I did, we probably don't have the right materials to make it work." They walked into the Mess and Wray poured another cup of boiling water, stirring in the dregs. TJ took it thankfully and took the first sip. "Right now, it's up to him."

* * *

><p>"How much longer Rush?" Young asked impatiently from his chair on the bridge. Maybe they couldn't control navigation, but the bridge still allowed a greater amount of versatility than the Control Interface Room.<p>

"A few minutes maybe," the scientist returned. "We're not in control of the F.T.L. jumps, so it's a rough estimate."

Young turned to face Brody in the right chair. "Good enough. Mr. Brody, bring the weapons online. I want to be able to defend ourselves immediately if we have to."

Brody didn't have a chance to move before the ship grinded to a halt and the bridge view showed a planet not off the bow.

"What the hell happened to a few minutes?" Young yelled at Rush.

"I told you it was an estimate." Rush quipped.

Kalin rose from his science station and walked up to the window. "What are those?" he asked pointed out from his higher vantage point. Far out beyond the edge of the ship lay dozens of heaps of metal floating through space. Some were dark and burned, and others were large and pockmarked.

"Rush, where are those ships?" Young asked quietly.

He turned from his seat and glanced at Young. "That's them. Those wrecks _are_ the ships."

Young was worried now. It hadn't been hard to destroy the four ships at the home world, but they were caught defenseless. Those ships could be hard to destroy, and here he was staring out onto a graveyard of at least a dozen of their ships, all wasted. "Are we reading any other ships? Any indication of who might have done this?"

"No," Brody said. "Just wrecks. It's like that on the planet too. Every piece of evidence of civilization is gone, burned to the ground."

Young leaned forward in his seat, holding his hands together looking uncomfortable. The view changed quickly as the ship lurched and headed toward the star. "So where do we go from here?" he asked Rush.

"We can't change our course," Rush responded. "We've been dealt a winning hand by the Ancients. They wanted to ensure that the _Destiny_ of this ship can't be changed, no matter what happens down the road." He looked out and squinted at the far off star. "We go on."

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. Free from danger for the moment, the crew must cope with their new troubles. One of the crew hangs between life and death, and the rest are battling to keep themselves sane.<em>


	5. Night

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_THANK YOU EVERYONE! I'm amazed at the continued support and love from you guys! I just hope that I can keep up writing at a level that keeps you guys happy._

_Episode five, this is a slower episode. It goes into some development and kinda is a stand-alone episode for the most part. I know I used some Deus Ex Machina, so forgive me those who get annoyed by it. That you for the gracious reviews you've given, and please please please keep reviewing!_

_WARNING. The next episode will go up in two Sundays. I found I can write and keep up with life better with two weeks, so I'm gonna make it a permanent change for every other Sunday. Sorry._

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode "Reboot" and "Flight". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>305: Night<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery __by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_The bullet grazed his kidney, and it's not working well now. Normally I'd try dialysis, but we don't have the right equipment for that here. Right now, it's up to him._

_His name is Kalin. He's from Novus._

_The computer just locked up and a massive download started!_

_You'd love that wouldn't you? To get all of the information from the planet. Whatever the Ancients might have left there._

_Whatever is on that database, the Ancients wanted us to have it. Any information we can gain can only help us._

_I mean, there's more to this encounter than just what we're seeing. The Ancients don't do anything just because they feel like it. I know that that reason is important to us, just like everything up to now has been important._

_You really think the Ancients had some plan for this ship? Something for down the road? They abandoned the damn mission, Rush._

_So we're back to where we started? No control over the ship?_

_No, not exactly. We have control over shields, weapons, communication, but as soon as I try to control the countdown clock or our course, the computer kicks me out again. We have to go somewhere specific, and the ship is gonna make sure we get there._

_What are those?_

_Just wrecks. It's like that on the planet too. Every piece of evidence of civilization is gone, burned to the ground._

_So where do we go from here?_

_We go on."_

* * *

><p>Feeling <em>Destiny <em>slow down, Young opened his eyes just as they re-entered normal space. He had been laying in bed the entire F.T.L. trip, a good nine hours at least, but he had not slept a minute of it. They were back to the beginning all over again, without control over their course or destination. Was that a good thing? To be honest, most of their problems began once they controlled the course. A lot of good people had dies because they tampered with the ship.

"Colonel Young, this is Brody in the Gate Room," his radio crackled on his bedside table. "We've dropped out of F.T.L.," Brody said, pausing as he awaited Young's response.

Annoyed at his ability to state the obvious and not continue, Young reached out and grabbed his radio. "Any planets?" he answered quickly.

"We've got one planet in range and the ship is dialing it right now. We're still registering another dozen Nati 'Gates," he answered blearily into his radio.

"Understood. Ignore them for now," he swung out of bed and rested on the edge for a moment. "I'll be in the Control Interface Room. Meet me there when you've gotten the Kino footage." He turned off his radio and rose from bed. Groggily rubbing his eyes, he opened the door and walked out into the hall, not even bothering to close the door behind him. He unconsciously walked to the Control Interface Room, his loud footsteps echoing through the ship, where Brody was already waiting for him. Looking up from the console's replay of the Kino footage, Brody seemed relatively pleased, although as exhausted as Young was.

"What do we got this time?" Young asked as he walked up the ramp.

"Looks pretty good. The 'Gate's in a big forest, lots of trees, fresh waters, possible edible plant life. Rich oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, devoid of any pollutants and no EM readings, so we should be safe from any advanced race here. I haven't seen anything that looks like a predator yet, but I think I saw a rabbit, or rabbit-like… thing," he answered, reading off information from the Kino display.

Young stared up at the countdown clock as he settled into the room. It read at four days. "Looks like we've got plenty of time here," he noted optimistically.

"_Destiny_ knows we're low on food and water. Guess it wants to give us enough time to restock." He yawned and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the console. "Tired?" he asked.

Young nodded and yawned slightly in return, looking back at Brody. He was the only one here right now. Everyone else was either in their quarters or the Mess Hall at this time. Rush was probably still on the bridge, poring over the Ancient download. That had been a pretty big download. Maybe it would keep Rush out of trouble for a little while. "Fine, we'll check it out. Get ready to embark while I get everyone else ready."

"Colonel?" Brody asked, sitting up from his chair.

"This looks as good as any planet for some good R and R. We all deserve some time off this ship, you too," Young returned as he was walking out of the Control Interface Room. He turned on his radio as he descended down the ramp. "Lt. Scott, come in."

There was static for a few moments before he responded. "This is Scott. What do you need, Colonel?" he said groggily.

"We've got a viable 'Gate in range. Get ready to go off world."

"Understood," he answered, this time in a more active state.

Replacing the radio upon the belt of his pants, he walked into the Infirmary, where he rightly assumed TJ to be. She was leaning her head against her arm as she was skimming through pages of notes on her laptop. Hearing him come in, she turned around. Like everyone else so far, she too was sleepy.

"Morning," he said, walking up to her desk.

"Is it?" she returned quietly.

He shrugged. "Somewhere it is." She smiled a little, but looked onto the beds holding Greer, Eli, and Morrison and that smile vanished. Trying to distract her, Young kept talking. "We've dialing in to a planet that looks like it could have a lot of good plant life for food, and maybe even medicine." She looked up at him at that key word. "I'd like you on the planet, help see what we can bring back." She could hear the request in his voice, his desire to ask her to help these people; the request that couldn't find words.

Nodding, she closed the laptop lid and slowly rose, stretching out her arms. "Yeah, I'd kill to get out in fresh air again."

"Good. Gear up and be in the Gate Room soon." He turned and walked out, giving a quick glance to the three occupied beds but not saying anything. TJ was looking at the two beds too, and wished she could just say some magic spell to heal them both.

* * *

><p>"Why are we the ones going through first?" Chloe asked as Scott helped to strap on her pack. Volker stood at the console dialing the 'Gate. TJ, Brody, Kalin, Becker, and James were also in the Room, all in various stages of preparation.<p>

"Colonel wants to get most of the crew off for some leave, but he'd rather we go and check it out first. That and I guess we were the ones held in prison," he answered looking supportively to Chloe. "Maybe he wants to give us the break first."

The 'Gate activated at that moment, and the vortex rushed out. As soon as it subsided, Young and Wray came strolling in. He was packed and ready to go, but she was not. Most likely she was just here to see them off. "Alright people, let's go." He walked through the small crowd and continued straight on through the wormhole. James and Becker followed next, and then everyone else proceeded through quickly.

It was warm on the other side. Very nice, pleasantly warm, at least compared to the temperate temperature _Destiny _remained fixed at. Young gazed out through the tree tops and saw all of the rays of the star streaming through, filling the forest with light. The trees were spread apart at a decent amount, not too dense or too sparse. Listening past the hum of the wormhole he could hear a running creek not too far off. There was rustling in the trees a little ways off, and Young turned to see a few small animals running off, startled by their arrival. He could smell something sweet and mild, and growing near the 'Gate's ramp there were a few small bushes covered in a small green berry.

Everyone else quickly came through the 'Gate and admired the environment just as much as he had. The Kino subtly floated closer to Young, finally settling in front of his face.

"We're good on this side, Volker," he said to the little flying orb. He pulled out his own Kino remote and took control of the device. "Dial back in after two hours, and if everything checks out alright we'll start sending through more of the crew." A second later the 'Gate connection was severed, and Young set the Kino to search mode. "Okay, Becker, TJ, I want you to look for food and medicinals," he said, turning to face his group. The rest of you, we'll split into two person groups, and look around. See if you can find anything of use, or just settle down somewhere." He walked up to Brody and gestured for him to follow. They started opposite of TJ and Becker, heading north. Scott and Chloe went west, and James and Kalin started off south.

"Was there any information about this planet in the Seed Ship database?" Young asked Brody as soon as they separated from the group. The forest was quite easy to traverse, and even Brody found no problem walking.

"Not too much. Most of the characteristics were physical, indicating a planet that would easily support an abundance of plant life." Pulling out his own remote, Brody read off information about the planet. "Rich in nutrients, warm climate, plentiful rainfall, lots of sunlight." Lowering his remote he looked back up at Young. "Overall this planet sounds perfect."

* * *

><p>"You know, I never thought I would see trees ever again," Kalin said, holding his hand out to a grand tree reaching far into the sky. James stood next to him, resting her hands on the butt of her rifle.<p>

"What do you mean?" she said. "I mean, I know the Colonel can seem intense, but why would you think he wouldn't have let you off ship?"

He turned his head around to face James, still keeping his hand firmly on the tree. He looked slightly pained, upset. "No, that's not what I meant. The world that I lived on, the world that we fled to after the drone attack was a barren world for the most part. No trees anywhere near the 'Gate. It was a large grassland as far as we could tell. We could grow food from some seeds we brought from Talus, and there was wildlife and water, but it was a very meager world. We dared not return in fear of the drones though." He sighed and let go of the tree, walking back to join James. "We all greatly missed our world."

She nodded her head, and softened her appearance. "Believe me; everyone on board knows exactly how you feel. We were uprooted from our home, and we miss everything about it." She patted him on the shoulder with a smile. "So, tell me about your world?"

"Are you sure you want to hear my story?" he asked tentatively, continuing to walk after her.

"Absolutely. We've found talking about home usually makes it feel a lot better. And who knows, maybe you'll see something here that can make this place remind you more of home."

He smiled and chuckled lightly. "Well, our colony was somewhat new. I was the second generation of our world. I lived in the capital as a mechanical scientist, with my family. My work was quite interesting for the most part, but there was generally a lack of new technology to study or research, so the work could be monotonous at times. Our world however was incredible. The planet itself was very large, around two times the diameter of Novus, so we had just started in exploring the majority of our world. There were large polar regions, great deserts, enormous oceans and so many forests around our world." He chuckled, grabbing a long branch off the ground and using it as a walking stick. "The abundance and diversity of life was amazing, and it was keeping our biologists busy around the clock."

"Sounds real nice," James noted.

"Oh it was. To me, even Novus could not compare to its beauty. On a trip as a child we visited the home world, and the gleaming city was remarkable of course, but I could not see much of a world beyond the buildings. We were still children on our world and it seemed we could maintain the beauty we had."

"You know," James said, stopping at a fast moving creek, pulling out a canteen, "you seem to have really been a tree-hugger. What made you go the techno way?" She scooped up some water and tested it for purity. It seemed clean and she took a gulp. It was perfectly chilled and fresh. She extended her hand, asking for Kalin's canteen, and after filling it returned it to him.

He took a sip before answering. "I always had a fascination in technology, figuring out how things work and why they work. And maybe I figured technology that works better could be better for everyone, my world included." He grimaced and placed the canteen back in his bag. "In the end, it was technology that destroyed my world."

James stood and started to walk slowly down the bank of the creek. "The drones can be terrible."

He scoffed and looked down as he kept walking. "It was an absolute nightmare."

* * *

><p>At explosion was heard in the distance, and judging by where the flames shot up from, the radio tower had just been hit. "How many were at station J-3?" Kalin asked morbidly to the operator at the computer.<p>

He scrolled through the database quickly. "Twenty permanent workers and at least two military convoys carrying civilians."

The door to the small compound opened, and two more refugees scrambled in quickly, slamming the door behind them. The bunker was very cramped, only about 400 square feet and there were at least thirty refugees in there so far. Kalin had been working here when they started to pour in. He recognized one of the newcomers.

"Monty!" he called out, running up to his brother and hugging him. He quickly released the embrace and held his brother's shoulders. Monty's face was dirt-covered, and he was wearing muddy, torn shirt. His expression was blank. He wasn't in pain, at least physically, but looked completely destroyed. "Monty, what happened? Did you find them?" he asked.

His brother seemed to snap back to reality and looked into his brother's eyes, understanding who he was looking at. Suddenly, his empty expression broke into tears and a loud sobbing. Monty shook his head and collapsed to the ground, and Kalin knelt down with him.

"Monty, what happened?" he asked, hoping that maybe the story could be different for him.

After a moment of trying to compose himself, Monty started to speak in a raspy voice through his sobs. "The community… was burning to the ground. I could see people… people trying to run, but they… they were all burning! They fell and screamed… the screaming!" He broke down into sobs again, and it took a minute before he could continue. Kalin was rubbing his brother's arm, trying to console him. "I tried to stay on the street, away… from the fire, but it was just so hot! They weren't even trying… to destroy anything else; they knew the fire would finish us all off. Why are we even trying to fight them off; it's useless!" he screamed in a fit of delirium.

"Calm down," Kalin said, holding firmly onto his brother's shoulder, bringing him back to the conversation. "Now, keep going, did you make it?"

He listened to his brother and stopped his panicking for a moment. He nodded and continued. "The house was still standing. It was at the end of the street… so the fire hadn't reached it yet. I ran in and… and started to look for them, but the house was empty. I figured… that maybe they had went to the school for shelter. So… I ran back through the forest… because it was quicker… and," he broke into sobs again, but tried to restrain himself, needing to finish his story, "and they were there in the middle of the forest… burned and lying on the ground! They were in pieces, Kalin! They're dead!" he screamed, throwing his face into his hands, barely stifling his sobs at all.

Kalin stood and walked off a few feet from his brother. So, his story was the same. His family was gone too. Only his brother was left, and as usual, he had to make sure he could take care of him. Remaining firm, Kalin didn't break; he knew there would be more to mourn and there would be plenty of time for that once they escaped.

A loud hum began to approach the bunker, and looking out of the small slits, Kalin could see dozens of the drones flying right towards them. Screams filled the bunker as the refugees became terrified.

"Quiet, everyone!" the senior soldier shouted to everyone. He was just a petty officer, and now he was the highest rank left here; all the other generals and sergeants and colonels were dead.

"Shut down that computer," Kalin said to the operator. "We've noticed they seem attracted to any kind of EM signature. Shut everything off. We might be able to get them to skip over us."

The operator, upon hearing this small bit of news that had some hope, didn't hesitate to obey. He turned off his console and quickly did the same for the rest of the computers in the room. He even went down to the generator in the basement level and disconnected that to ensure nothing was still working. Now, left in the dark as the lights went out, Kalin peered through the opening to see if they had had any luck.

The drones were still zooming right at them, unbelievably fast. He was praying to all of the original ancestors that they would live, even if he didn't really believe they were truly gods; it just felt good to pray to someone. He prayed to the wise one Eli for an idea to save these people, something to do for them.

A boom echoed and he saw a trail of smoke reach out and smash into the lead drone. A small cheer erupted at the edge of town as he saw a small group of soldiers raising their weapons and firing on the drones. They quickly turned down to bear on them and pummeled them with dozens of precision shots, leaving the brave soldiers nothing more than a pile of ash. However, they had done their duty as the drones continued moving away from the compound.

Kalin let out a deep breath, as did the other military officers in the room. The refugees just remained quiet, either in fear any sound would bring death raining upon them or just plain scared. His brother was still on the ground, crying into his hands, most likely oblivious to what just happened. Regardless of how he felt right now, he had a duty to try and save these people. It was the least that he could do really. He walked up the senior officer and tried to get him away from the crowd.

"We've got to get these people out of here and to the Stargate. We're not safe _anywhere_ on Talus," he said, quietly, trying not to attract too much attention for desperate refugees.

The officer considered things quickly and gazed at the worried refugees. He looked back out of the slits and saw the city burning. "What if we lead them back to Novus? Could you live with yourself if we led to the destruction of that world as well?"

"Then we go to another planet, and another, and keep going until we're far from here," Kalin pleaded. "We just need to get away from _here_."

Obviously seeing reason in his argument, the officer continued with the topic. "All right, then how do we get to the 'Gate?"

"We walk to the compound with the 'Gate and dial out," Kalin said quickly.

The officer scoffed. "As easy as that?"

"Yes as easy as that!" Kalin raised his voice, getting aggravated. "They are drawn to technology. If we go on foot we won't be targets for them." The officer just stared at him, not too sure what to do. "Look, it's better than sitting here rotting away. The 'Gate is in a warehouse with many provisions. We can take food, water, and emergency shelters with us."

"Sir," one of the nearest refugees said suddenly. The officer turned to look. It was a teenage girl. Her arm was wrapped up tightly and he could see burns and blood all across her. "I think we should listen to him," she managed to say in a rough, dry voice. Water had been scarce, among other things. She was standing alone near them, and as no one seemed to be trying to take care of her it stood to reason her family too was gone.

The officer seemed to have made his mind then. "Right, it doesn't seem we have much of a choice, do we?"

Kalin smiled and went to get his brother. "Monty, come on. Get up," he said, trying to get his brother off of the ground. He was calmer now, but still seemed emotionally destroyed. Of the two brothers, Monty was always the more emotional one compared to Kalin who was always off working and being serious. He succeeded in getting his brother standing and held him up, drying off his tears. "We're going to go now and escape these things, all right?" Monty nodded back slowly. Kalin smiled and led his brother out of the bunker.

The air was foul outside. It smelled of ash, burning metals and chemicals and decaying flesh. The smoke for the city was drifting in their direction.

"Lead the way," the officer said once he was outside with the refugees that agreed to move out. Kalin looked around the air. Most of the robots seemed focused on the center of the city, where most of the larger structures were. The 'Gate was in a terminal near the edge of the city, only a few kilometers from the bunker. Kalin immediately started off, heading down through the forest. He was trying to move fast, but dared not go any faster than his brother would allow him to go. He couldn't lose anyone else; he had to keep his brother safe.

The forest was so empty. Not even animals were moving in it. Then again, they had all run far away from the city by yesterday when the attacks had begun. Some of the trees were catching on fire from cinders spreading from the besieged city. However, nothing bad happened during their transit through the forest. A couple of drones flew overhead but had not stopped for them. After almost an hour of slow paced walking and waiting for the slower members of the group to catch up, they could see the warehouse. It was empty and abandoned, but through the broken walls Kalin could see the Stargate.

"It's still there!" he called back to the officer. "We can make it! We're so close."

At this point the officer took the lead and carefully led the approach to the warehouse. The distance was less than a couple hundred meters, but at the rate they were creeping up to it, it took a long time to get there. Still, they all made their way to safety within the damaged warehouse. Judging by the sounds of explosions and humming, the nearest of the machines was only a kilometer or so away.

"Start dialing, just make sure it's not Novus!" the officer said. "We can't risk it."

Kalin complied and sat his brother down on a crate near the 'Gate's ramp. He pulled out the dialing remote he had been saving for the last few days and selected the first address other than Novus that he saw. The Stargate lit up and started to spin, locking in the set of coordinates slowly.

"Do you hear that?" one of the refugees screamed. "They're coming!" Surely enough, a loud hum was heard approaching the warehouse, and the next second the roof turned to fire. Burning debris fell down all over the warehouse, injuring many people. The 'Gate finished dialing within another moment, right before a wave of weapons slammed into the room. He heard screams as bodies were fragmented beyond recognition and others were burned to ash. After the first barrage, there was a short pause as the machines soared through the sky, turning back to face the warehouse.

"Go! Get through the 'Gate!" the officer shouted, clinging to his bleeding arm. He grabbed the little girl that had pursued her and almost literally threw her through the wormhole. He directed as many people as he could through it.

Kalin had been knocked down during the first barrage and when he rose, he saw his brother lying on the ground beside him. He was burned across his chest and bleeding profusely. Kalin reached out and grabbed his brother. "Monty!" His brother mumbled a response and looked up at Kalin. He looked grim and pale, and was barely breathing. "Monty, no! Come on, you can't die, not now. Not after I lost everyone else, please no!" Monty didn't say anything, but just shook his head around nonsensically.

"Kalin, we need to move!" the officer yelled from the ramp. Everyone except for them had already gone through the 'Gate.

Kalin ignored him and just stared at his brother. "No, you can't go," he said, tears starting to form in his eyes. He knew then his brother was gone, because through his entire life, his brother had done the crying for both of them. He felt a heavy force pull him off his brother's body and didn't fight the officer as he carried him through the 'Gate before the machines came back.

* * *

><p>Sitting on a boulder, James was listening to Kalin tell his story again to Chloe and Scott. It was night time now, and the two groups had been following the same river bank and met up with each other a few hours ago. Scott had started a fire as the night was a little chilly, and they were all slowly eating berries they had collected. TJ had told them over the radio that the berries were safe to eat, and they were pretty good too.<p>

"And, we kept going on for the rest of the day like that really, just gating to different planets," he said, finishing off a handful of berries. He was somber but didn't really show it much. "I think we passed through twenty worlds at least, until someone got fed up and realized that we were far enough away from Talus that nothing could touch us again." He chuckled a little. "Of course that was when people started to get upset, realizing they would never see home again, and were lost in this galaxy. We had only around forty survivors. We apparently picked up some stranglers in the forest that I hadn't realized about at the time that made our party grow in number. Anyways, we set to rebuilding our society, but obviously resources were scarce so we were in hardships for a long time. That was over twenty years ago." He sighed and gazed up into the stars, wishing he could see something he recognized up in the sky.

"Wow, I'm so, so sorry for you," Chloe said. "I mean, we all know what you went through, being lost from home, but at least we still know our loved ones are alive on Earth. You really did lose everything."

Kalin just shrugged and lay back across the boulder, relaxing while he stargazed. Chloe turned back to Scott and sat next to his side. "You know, I thought we had it bad," she said quietly to him.

"Yeah, I feel sorry for the poor guy," Scott returned, leaning against a thick tree. "I'm still worried for our people in the Infirmary. TJ didn't say anything about medicinals here."

"You think they'll be okay?"

"She went back to _Destiny_ with Becker to bring the food and water. She said was gonna stay and try to help them, but… I don't really know," he confessed.

* * *

><p>Wray walked into the Control Interface Room carrying two bowls of the fruit with her. Volker and Rush were sitting at two of the consoles, both occupied in their own respective line of research. She walked over to Volker and gave him a bowl, which he took thankfully. She slowly marched up to Rush and placed the bowl on the console. After a moment of her being there he looked up.<p>

"Yes?" he asked irksomely.

"You haven't eaten today," she answered simply. "You just went from working on the bridge to working here. You need something, and these are some of the freshest berries we've had in a while." She nudged the bowl closer to him.

Grudgingly he took the bowl and ate a few of the berries. He nodded after a second. "Yeah, thanks," he said quickly, leaving the bowl on the side of the console as he kept working.

Wray sighed and peered at the display on the console. "Still trying to work on that download?"

"Yeah, but without any luck. The master code is more complex than the original code that protected _Destiny_'s systems. I've got nothing that can break it," he said incredibly frustrated, unconsciously grabbing a few more berries.

Volker scoffed from his console. "Finally, something that you can't mess with."

Rush ignored him and looked up at Wray. "I can't tell you what is ultimately going to happen until I can figure out what this program is doing, or trying to do." He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Any word on Eli's condition?"

She shook her head. "He's still comatose. TJ started to feed him with an IV a few hours ago with a drip from the juices in the berry. She said it has a high concentration in vitamins and nutrients, so it should keep him going for a little while."

"What about our food stores?" Volker asked.

Wray turned to face him. "We've got a bunch of people out on the planet gathering as much of the fruit as they can. It should last us another month maybe, and with the dome being repaired now we can start planting soon. And Young has another group getting as much water as they can. So, all in all we should be good for the short run."

Volker nodded satisfactorily and looked back down to his work. Wray turned back to Rush. "So, do you think you've got a chance to get into that program?"

He thought for a moment. "I hope so. I worked hard to free us the first time, and I think it was for the better."

Wray was going to respond, but Volker cut him off.

"Hey guys, come check this out," he said worriedly. Wray walked over immediately but Rush just stayed where he was. "I was going through the Novus database, and I found something interesting." Wray read the display, and a moment later she looked up at Rush, her face grave.

* * *

><p>"Has the Kino found anything else? More food or water, or a raw ore deposit?" Young asked Brody. He was controlling the Kino now and staring into the remote read-out as the Kino was soaring high about the tree tops searching for more resources.<p>

"There's a large body of water around twelve kilometers south of here, but I'd say everything we really need is within a kilometer of the 'Gate," he noted.

"Fine, let's head back to the camp and join up with everyone else," he said, turning around and heading north. They had left the camp an hour ago, so they can't have gone too far astray from them.

The night was dark here, but there was still an air of calm here. He didn't hear any animals approaching them, and the moonlight illuminated everything barely but clearly. The air was still warm even in the dead of night.

"I'm just surprised we didn't find any Nati installation here," Brody said. "I'm actually more happy than surprised, though I bet Rush would've been excited to have a chance to explore their technology and maybe get their database too."

"Give the man a bit of a break," Young said, keeping his gun aimed forward as the flashlight was attached to it. "We're all under a lot of stress, and I don't want to see this crew fall apart again."

Brody sighed in acknowledgement. "You've got to admit though that the whole thing doesn't feel right. I mean, we meet a group of humans that say were create by Ancients, and then we get some kind of download from the Ancient computer, and _then_ all of their civilization is destroyed! Don't tell me it's just me who thinks something's up."

"So what, Rush was responsible for all of those things, is that what you're saying?" Young returned. "He's a lot of things, but he's not God. He can't have been responsible for anything that happened, so be reasonable."

"Sir, this is Volker," his radio crackled suddenly.

Young stopped and pulled out his radio, somewhat worried. "Young here, is something wrong? The next scheduled check-up is three hours from now."

"Actually sir, something is wrong."

* * *

><p>"This way, hold onto my arm," Barnes said as she led Park into the Infirmary. Park felt around her, touching the cold walls and eventually finding her way to the beds. Once she was seated on the bed she felt more relaxed.<p>

"Thank you," she said. Barnes gripped her hand a little tighter before letting go and walking out. "TJ, how is everyone?" she asked.

From her desk TJ rose energetically and walked up to Park. "For right now they're all stable. Morrison is healing slowly, but still unconscious. Eli is comatose, and Greer is touch and go." She paused and looked from her to Greer. "He's awake if you want to talk to him," she whispered.

A smile flickered across Park's face and she nodded. TJ helped to move her to a bed closer to Greer's, and then she went back to her desk, leaving them alone. "Hi."

"Hey there," he answered hoarsely. He reached out and took a sip of water before speaking again. "How are you?" he said, this time sounding better.

"Feeling fine, pretty good actually," she said.

"Yeah?" he returned cheerfully.

She smirked and laughed a little. "I don't really know why. Maybe for once we have a chance to breathe without the fear of getting blown up."

"I've missed you," he said softly from his bed, not moving much, but she could hear how he shifted his position slightly to sit up. "I've been worried about you."

She scoffed. "Of course you'd be worried about me," she said smiling. "You're the one with the grave wound and I'm the blind one. You should be worried for yourself."

This time he laughed a little. "You know I don't worry about myself. It's not healthy."

She was staring at the sound of his voice, her gaze directed right at his face. It was a moment before she understood what had happened. "Ronald," she said softly, turned her head up a little, looking right at Greer.

He looked up at her, concerned as her face contorted with raw emotion. "What is it?" he asked, nervous. "TJ!" he called.

She came running over and held onto Park. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"TJ," Park said, "I can see."

* * *

><p>Young pounded through the forest, quickly making his way to the camp. Brody was behind him, not able to keep up with him for too long. He soon reached the camp and stopped right in front of Kalin. Panting, he picked him up off of the boulder and rested him on his feet. "Why didn't you tell us?" he said menacingly.<p>

"Colonel? What's going on here?" Scott said.

Young looked quickly at Scott. "Hold your ground, Lieutenant." He turned back to Kalin. "We found the records, we know it was you. Why didn't you tell us?" he repeated.

Kalin didn't even try to look confused or scared, he just look sad and conflicted.

"Colonel, what are you talking about?" Chloe asked from Scott's side.

Young backed off a little and Brody came panting up beside him. Young pointed his finger at Kalin. "He started the drones, it's all because of him."

"That's not true," Kalin quickly returned. "It is my fault, but I didn't start them." Everyone looked at him with confusion and he sighed. He sat back on the boulder and started to speak again. "I made a big mistake."

* * *

><p>"You want me to what?" Kalin asked Lester, his supervisor. They were seated in his office discussing Kalin's next assignment.<p>

"You heard. Research detected an EM surge out of the city and I want you to lead a team to find out what it is," Lester returned calmly from his desk. "We knew that as we colonized we'd we bound to run into technology left behind by other races, and this looks like a promising signal. I want you to lead the team."

Kalin scoffed and looked incredulously at Lester. "But I thought Brandon was the lead expedition master here?"

"Consider this your promotion. Now go before I change my mind," Lester said.

Kalin quickly obeyed and departed from the office. A few hours later, he was at the site of the EM surge.

"Are you sure Lester gave us the right coordinates?" asked his partner, Edina.

"Positive, this is the right spot." They were standing in the middle of the forest with nothing in sight but trees and rocks. "Maybe it was moved. We only received one surge from this location, so it stands to reason that it might not be stationary."

Edina shrugged and moved away and sat on a large rock. "I think Lester was just messing with us. I guess I'll just call off the expedition before everyone else gets here. No sense in having all that equipment lugged out here if there's nothing to look for."

Kalin continued to read his instruments, looking for something, anything that might make his first expedition as a leader something worthwhile. So far, this seemed to be a mighty bust. Suddenly, his radiation counter spiked and other equipment began to beep as well. Edina put down his radio and looked around as everything was going crazy.

"Okay, maybe there is something here," Edina said, retracting his previous statement. The ground began to shake and at this point both of them were worried. "And maybe we should leave?" he offered.

There was a loud cracking noise near them, and then everything stopped. The shaking was over and all his equipment was silent again. Kalin proceeded forward and looked around for the source of the noise, but Edina didn't move. "Maybe we should head back, report this to Lester."

Ignoring him, Kalin looked around and soon found a hole in the earth. "Edina, come over here. I found something."

"Of course you did," he muttered before stomping up the Kalin. He looked into the hole, and when he saw nothing but darkness he grabbed a flashlight and illuminated the chamber. There was a large room right below them, and not being able to resist the wait, Kalin grabbed the flashlight from Edina's hand and jumped right in. "Hey! Maybe you shouldn't be in there!" Edina shouted after him.

"Head back to the extraction point and contact Lester. Let him know we found something!" Kalin said excitedly. He heard Edina mutter under his breath and walk off. Shining the flashlight around, Kalin got a good feel for where he was. This looked like some sort of control room. There were consoles everywhere, and a large window on one side of the room. Walking up to the window, he tried to peer through it, but the other side was pitch black dark. "Lights," he said to himself. "Every place has got to have lights." He looked around the various computers and terminals. He traced a wire from the ceiling and saw it lead to a small console in the back of the room. He flipped a few switched on them and laughed victoriously when the lights suddenly came on.

He turned back to the window as a loud hum echoed through the chamber. The lights were turning on in there as well, and he stared aghast at what he saw. There was a massive cavern in there, all done up with metal reinforcements and structuring. Dozens of large, oval-shaped craft filled the chamber, extending far in front of him.

Staring happily upon his find he smiled. "I am going to get so many awards for this."

The hum grew louder, and the nearest craft lit up. The cavern began to shake, and it quickly led to the room as well. He collapsed to the ground from the violent tremors and watched from the floor and all the other craft lit up as well. The hum was almost unbearable, and all of them lifted off of the ground. The ceiling of the cavern, despite being massive, opened, almost disintegrating into thousands of smaller craft that all swarmed around the large ships.

Suddenly, the earth that had formed over the small craft collapsed, and blinding sunlight flooded the cavern. The thousands of small craft released themselves to the world above, with the massive craft following suit. Within a minute, it was done. The cavern was empty, not even one machine left. Another minute later, the humming that he could hear overheard through the hole in the ceiling was filled with another; explosions and weapons fire. He bolted and stacked as much loose equipments as he could find, and soon found himself on the surface again. He ran as hard as he could through the forest, not daring to look up into the treacherous sky that was currently holding those machines.

He stopped at a large cliff that overlooked the city, and fell to his knees. Thousands of the craft were flying around the city, and from every angle and direction they were destroying his home. A loud roar followed as the dozens of large craft fly up and out of sight, taking rest in space while their small counterparts did their work. Kalin couldn't see any sign that his people were even trying to fight back. They were entirely overwhelmed. The tall gleaming buildings were crumbling to the ground, and now closer to the city, he could hear the screams as his people burned.

* * *

><p>Now sitting down on the ground, having slipped off of the boulder, Kalin was distraught in a fit of sobs. "I never meant for anything! Everyone died because of me, and no one knew! We moved to a new world and no one knew that I had been responsible for the destruction of our real home."<p>

Young nodded and turned away, giving him some room. "Well someone knew," he said to Scott who was giving him a puzzled look. "Volker was going through the Novus database when he found a file about Kalin. Apparently there was a survivor that made it to Novus, his partner Edina. He told the officials what happened and they interpreted it as a terrorist act the Kalin committed."

"But it was just a mistake," Scott said. "You can't have thought that he did it on purpose?"

"Of course not, but intentional or unintentional, what he did has had lasting impacts on a lot of people," Young said, looking back to Kalin. "We know now at least two of their colonies were destroyed by the drones, and who knows how many more might've been. The Ursini are wiped out as far as we know, and those drones weren't nice to us."

"I'm sorry, for it all," Kalin said from the other side of the fire. "I didn't know any better about them. I couldn't have known what they would do to my people, or yours!"

"Colonel, this is TJ," she said over the radio.

He stared silently at Kalin. He had no real reason to be angry at him. True, his actions had caused so much suffering _Destiny_ and many others, but he couldn't hold it against him. He nodded to Kalin, acknowledging his understanding, and walked off to answer his radio.

"This is Young, is there any way you this news won't be something big and important?" he asked.

"Sorry, sir, but I think you're gonna want to come back to the ship immediately," she said quickly and excitedly.

He sighed and started to walk off to the 'Gate which was just a little bit off of the camp. "Understood, I'll be right there."

* * *

><p>"What is it, <em>this<em> time?" Young asked as he walked into the Gate Room. Wray and Rush were there to greet him.

"Well for starters, it's good news this time," Rush said from the dialing console. "He walked off down the center door with Wray urging Young to follow them. He sighed but followed them, extremely tired of these guessing games. They led him down the ship to the Infirmary, where TJ was standing outside, a smile beaming across her face.

"Well, this looks reassuring," he said. "Did you find a way to help Greer?" he asked as he walked in after Rush and Wray.

"Even better," she said, moving to let him in. Greer was sitting up in his bed, seeming comfortable and devoid of pain. Park was sitting on the bed next to him and when he entered she turned around and _looked_ at him.

"Colonel, it's good to see you," she said, the deliberate use of words not escaping him. He stared aghast at her, and looking over one bed over saw Eli awake as well. Even Morrison was awake and not complaining in his bed.

He stared open-mouthed at TJ. "How…?" he asked, not really sure what question to ask first.

TJ walked over to her desk and grabbed a bowl from it. Carrying it back she gave it to him. Inside was a berry. "Everyone ate these berries, even the people in the Infirmary. When I ran a more detailed chemical analysis of the fruit, I found it was rich in anti-oxidants and some other compound I've never seen before. It's full of phospholipids and when it interacts with wounded cells it seems to almost copy that cell structure and multiply. It worked on the damage tissue in Greer's kidney and with Lisa's retina's. It repaired their damage and did the same with Morrison and Eli."

Young looked back at Park and at everyone else who was in the room. He let a small smile slid across his face, and he didn't try to let the happiness from showing. He walked up to Greer and tapped his shoulder. "It's good to have you back," he said. He looked wider at the rest of the people. "All of you."

Eli sat up a little in his chair. "Um, sorry for ruining the moment, but, back from what?"

Rush walked up to Eli. "I'll get him up to speed," he offered. "You look like you could use some sleep." Sitting down on the bed next to Eli, he started with the events of the last few days.

He nodded at Rush's statement, and giving one final smile, walked out of the Infirmary with Wray following him.

"So, I guess some things _do _work for us," she said after a moment.

He remained silent and stopped outside the door to his room. It had remained open this entire time. "You know," he started, right as she had begun to walk off, "it's on these days that there's some hope for the crew. It's hard enough to do my job when the crew is scared and in a bad shape. Today was just, unbelievable."

"Make you believe someone might be watching out for us?" she asked carefully.

He chuckled and looked her square in the face. "Almost."

She smiled back. "Good night," she said, walking off down the hall.

Young walked into his room slowly and closed the door behind him. He turned off his radio and set it on his bed side table. Leaving his pack and uniform on the foot of his bed, he lay on his bed, stared up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>In two weeks on the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. The crew find a planet that might reveal some answers, or change what they have known about one of their greatest threats.<em>


	6. Temple

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_Wow is all I have to say. While I know I've been losing steam in my writing, you guys are still giving me such great support. Harmiony4ever, I have to apologize that this episode is shorter than the rest, but I really was stretching my mind thin on this one. I have to admit, when I wrote the last episode, I never thought about the berries in regard to TJ's ALS, so I am so glad some of you did! Sherry, you are really great with all your posts. You and so many others are asking questions that I can only answer through my writing by posing more questions. I know it is hard to get more questions, but it will all unviel itself soon. However, I did drop one bone for you guys about the arc._

_Episode six, this is a pretty important episode, even if it is short. I tried to get some development of characters and plot in here, and I think, while it is short, it came out pretty good. I just hope you guys think so as well, so please review!_

_Next episode will be up in two Sundays, hopefully, and for those of you who like long stories, I'll try my best._

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode "Worship", "Flight", and "Night". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>306: Temple<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery __by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_He started the drones, it's all because of him._

_That's not true. It is my fault, but I didn't start them. I made a big mistake._

_Two years ago, we encountered these ships. Three of them appeared above our world and we greeted them. They attacked one of our ships and took some of its crew hostage. As we are the protectors of the Lords' temple we had no choice but to destroy them._

_What are those?_

_Are we reading any other ships? Any indication of who might have done this?_

_No. Just wrecks. It's like that on the planet too. Every piece of evidence of civilization is gone, burned to the ground._

_Everyone ate these berries, even the people in the Infirmary. It's full of phospholipids and when it interacts with wounded cells it seems to almost copy that cell structure and multiply. It worked on the damage tissue in Greer's kidney and with Lisa's retina's._

_You mentioned a temple? Is this it? The Stargate?_

_No, the temple resides underground. No one has ever entered as it is forbidden. We have found these temples on planets across the galaxy, and we are designated their protectors."_

* * *

><p>Wray rolled up her sleeve and extended her arm. She stared carefully as TJ slowly put the needle into her arm. It didn't hurt at all, and she could swear that she the skin sealed up right after the needle was removed.<p>

"There we go," TJ said. She walked off with the syringe, being careful not to drop it.

"Do you really think that sample will be of any use to you?" Wray asked as she fixed her sleeve back down. "You've already got samples from dozens of others of the crew."

TJ safely removed the sample and after labeling it, placed it in a tray with other vials. "I really don't expect any new information, but I want to have records of everyone. There's no telling how permanent the compound from the fruits were." She seemed to get a little uncomfortable and sat down at her chair, pulling a slide under her microscope.

Wray walked up to her, worried for her. She figured she knew what was distressing her. "Do you think it could've cured your ALS?"

TJ sat staring through the lens, not reacting immediately. She sat back a moment later and sighed. "I doubt it. ALS wouldn't be cured by repairing damaged tissue. But there's no way to know. I can't detect it, and symptoms wouldn't manifest for a few years anyway."

She looked kindly at the medic. "Well, it can't hurt to be helpful now?"

"Camille, this is Volker," her radio went off.

Indicating she needed to go, she smiled to TJ, and walked out of the Infirmary. She pulled the radio off of her belt and raised it up. "This is Wray."

"We just sent a Kino to the third planet in range, and I think there's something here you need to see. Can you meet us in the Control Interface Room?"

"I'm on my way," she said, returning the radio to her belt. There was always something interesting. She started to walk down the hall but didn't get too far.

"Hang on, Camille," Young said as he walked down the hallway to join her. "Did they call you up too?"

She nodded affirmatively and kept walking once he caught up with her. "They never do like to tell us what it's about over the radio, do they?"

"No, they do not," he returned, walking firmly down the hall.

They walked the rest of the way in silence and quickly walked into the Control Interface Room, which was empty right now. Young looked around. "It's not your birthday or something, is it?" he jokingly asked to Wray.

Volker came storming in at that moment. "Sorry, I was alone in the Gate Room so I had to shut everything down before I could come here."

"Where's everyone else?" Wray asked.

"Well," Volker started, taking his usual seat, "Eli is still off-world with Becker, Brooks, and Scott looking for some animal that's on the database. Rush has himself locked up on the bridge sifting through that download; Brody had to fix one of the CO2 scrubbers, Park is in hydroponics, and Kalin won't leave his room. So," he added with a deep breath, "I'm the only one here for now."

"We'll deal with all of them later," Young said, looking quite irked at hearing about some of their activities. "For now, what was so important?"

Volker came back to attention. "Right, um, I was checking out the other planets that were in range, and I found this on the third planet." He executed a command and brought up a Kino video file on his console. He motioned Wray and Young to come to him. Looking at the screen, they saw a facility that looked just like the Gate Room.

"This is a Nati planet," Wray said suddenly, focusing on a body she could see in the frame of the Kino. The corpse was clearly wearing a Nati uniform.

"Right, and overall the condition of the facility is pretty good," Volker noted. "I sent the Kino on search mode through it and didn't see that bad structural damage really."

Young watched as the video progressed and showed the Kino floating down through the hallways, which save for a few breaches and scorched walls were in decent condition.

"I think it would be a good idea to check it out," Volker spoke up. Both Wray and Young looked at him somewhat disapprovingly. "Best case scenario we can get a lot of data about this region of space and maybe even learn about who attacked them. And at the least, maybe we can get salvage some more supplies," he beseeched.

The Colonel kept staring at the screen for a moment before he finally settled on an answer. "Get Scott and Eli back here. And I don't care how you have to do it, but get Rush out of the bridge. We've got to find some answers."

* * *

><p>The door was locked and his radio was broken to bits, with all of its small pieces strewn across the floor. Kalin sat in the dark on his bed, staring out through his window, watching the stars, trying to look for a familiar glimmer. He rested his head on his arms as they were crossed over his legs. He had been locked in his quarters ever since they returned from the berry-planet, which was three days ago. He had had only a little food and water with him, and now that was gone, but he didn't care.<p>

He heard soft footsteps coming down the hall, and they stopped outside of his room. There was a loud thumping against his door. "Kalin," someone said through the door. It sounded like Chloe to him, but he wasn't listening very carefully to the voice. "Kalin, I know you're in there. Come out. We just want to make sure you're okay."

Kalin didn't move. He just kept staring out of the window. He had a cover of his door porthole, so Chloe couldn't look in to see him in his despondent state.

Chloe pounded on the door one more time. "Kalin, I'm here if you need to talk. We don't blame you for anything." She paused for another moment. "We just want to help you."

He heard the footsteps recede and leave his door, and he closed his eyes as he thought about his life and everything that had gone wrong.

* * *

><p>Rush sat glaring at the console. Nothing about it made sense to him, and he was just so frustrated that you couldn't figure it out. He scrolled through the code, just trying to figure it out, but almost everything was encrypted and he couldn't understand how to break it without a cipher. And this was after he had gone through all the effort to break <em>Destiny's<em> original master code.

"Did you think maybe that this happened for a good reason?" a voice said. He knew he was alone on the bridge, and slowly turned around to see Gloria.

He relaxed into his chair once he saw her and sighed. "I didn't expect to see you again."

"Well, you didn't really need me did you?" she said, pacing slowly around the bridge. She hadn't changed since the last time she had appeared to him. "You were so sure of yourself, about doing the right thing by breaking the code. And you weren't really listening anyways." As she was speaking she made her way to the center chair as sat down. "But now, you'll be open to another voice, won't you?"

Rush stared at this apparition of his deceased wife and just thought for a moment. When he spoke, he did so softly. "Do you know why this is all happening?"

She just smiled. "Of course."

"Well, would you care to tell me then?" he asked and crossed his arms arrogantly. "Or do you intend to be just as useless as before?"

Gloria crossed her legs and extended her arms onto the armrests of the chair. She didn't seem bothered by his comment. "If I were to tell you, then the whole point of the mission would be done for. It was your interference that ruined you from the start, and I won't let you do it again." She paused, and a moment later rose from the chair and walked up the Rush. "You have no idea what is in store for you, and if you don't let events unfold as they should, this destiny will end for you."

He furrowed his brow and stared open-mouthed at her as she spoke. This was wrong, everything was wrong. "Whenever Gloria spoke to me, she never gave me anything useful about the ship; that was Franklin." He stood as well and looked at her closely. "Who are you?"

Her smile faltered but her gaze was resolute. "There are some things that must be allowed to happen, and in time you will see they are only for the best of reasons."

The door hissed open, and Rush turned his gaze to see Volker walk in. When he looked back, Gloria was gone. He let out a breath of resentment and pivoted to look at Volker. "What do you need, Mr. Volker?" he said with great annoyance.

Not taken about by the Scotsman's irritation he just walked up to the railing. "We need you in the Gate Room. We found a Nati compound that's relatively undamaged. Young ordered us to investigate."

Rush shook his head, understanding the importance of this find. "You could've radioed me, you know?"

"Tried; your radio was off," he said as he left, having no reason to stay after passing on his message.

He turned and looked, noticing he had turned off his radio without even thinking about it. He picked it up and looked around the bridge, looking for answers, or something. Sighing, he walked out of the room in defeat.

* * *

><p>The 'Gate locked the final chevron and activated, illuminating the entire Gate Room once again. A moment passed before Scott and Eli waltzed through the wormhole.<p>

"What, miss us already?" Eli said as the 'Gate deactivated and the filters activated.

Rush stood at the dialing computer, dressed in his military garb typical of off-world missions. Young and James were prepared as well, fully armed. Brody was sitting on the stairs, most likely waiting for them to depart as he did not seem dressed for a mission. Volker was at the other computer console, ready to receive telemetry from the Kino. Once the 'Gate returned to its starting position, Rush began dialing.

"We found a Nati planet within range of _Destiny_," Young said as Eli looked inquisitively at the spinning 'Gate. "We're gonna see what we can find there."

"Is that a good idea, Colonel?" Scott asked, not being too happy to return to what was a hostile environment in his mind.

Checking his weapon and turning off the safety, Young looked down to the ground. "Good idea or not, we need some answers about everything that's been happening lately." Satisfied his weapon was in good condition he looked back up. "And right now, that's our best bet for those answers. We've done a Kino search through the base and it seemed deserted."

"'Seemed' is the keyword," Eli quipped.

Young sighed. "We'll be fine." The point of origin locked, and the vortex lashed out. Once the steady ripple of the wormhole was shining into the room Young turned to Volker. "How's the Kino?"

"It's still there, and transmitting a strong signal," he said, squinting at the read-out. "Atmosphere is fine, and I'm not reading any radioactivity. You'll be fine, but I'm not too sure where the Kino is."

Pulling out his own Kino remote, Eli turned back to the wormhole. "I should be able to find it," he noted as he stared at the telemetry on his own screen.

"Fine, let's go then," Young said. He walked out first and passed through the wormhole. Taking a nervous breath Scott turned back and walked into the wormhole as well, with Eli right beside him. Volker and Rush both picked their bags off from the ground and made their way through the Stargate.

It was disorientating to walk from one room to another and having both of them look almost identical. In fact, to Rush's careful glare, the room was identical to that of the Gate Room, excluding the minor damage and dead guard.

"Eli, I want you and Scott to scout the facility. Try and find the Kino so you can get the footage from it," Young ordered as he took up a comfortable position between the two consoles.

They nodded and began to move down one of the open doors on the left. Young turned on his radio. "Brody, everything looks good here. Dial back in an hour for an update."

"Understood," Brody answered over the radio, and a moment later the wormhole shut down.

"Volker, you and James go down that way," he indicated to the door opposite where Eli had just gone, "and try to look for any supplies or useful information." Once they moved off, Young walked up to Rush.

"So, you'll be my bodyguard tonight?" Rush said snidely as he started off through the center door under the mezzanine.

Young followed him closely. "Any luck with that download?" Young asked trying to get Rush to talk.

"Not the slightest," Rush said. They passed through the hall and entered a rotunda with an open conduit on the opposite end. Rush walked up to it and put his bad down on the floor. He inspected the contents. "I can probably save some of this equipment," he noted as he began to pull out some cylindrical components.

"Don't hurt yourself," Young warned.

Rush sighed in annoyance, hating being told things like that. "The power is off here, so there's no voltage going through these systems." He gathered a handful of components and stashed them in his bag. Looking back at the conduit, he didn't find anything else of any use, so he grabbed his bag and moved on. "I need to get power back so I can get into the computer."

Continuing to follow him, they walked down a length of halls until they reached the Control Interface Room. As Rush started working at one of the consoles, Young leaned against the wall. "You realize that your obsession with that download isn't helping anyone. There are a lot more important things that you could be doing to help the ship and everyone else."

"Yeah, but don't you want to know the Ancient's intention for everything?" he said, looking up from the console as it had no power. He walked down to one end of the room and pulled off a wall panel. Resting it on the ground, he turned back to Young. "Or do you enjoy not knowing what the next day could hold in store for us? Don't you want to know what is going to happen so you can prepare, and protect the crew better?"

"I want nothing more than to protect that crew and get them home, but did you consider maybe we shouldn't tamper with everything?" Young argued back. "Maybe there was a reason that download is so heavily protected."

Rush shook his head and turned back to the power conduits. Reaching in, he examined the system for a moment, but then sighed and rested his elbows on the ledge. "I need to know what _Destiny_ is trying to do. We can't risk the mission being compromised, and if we don't know what the download is doing, then I can't be sure of anything."

Frowning, Young, glared at the scientist. "I thought you were convinced it was the Ancients who sent the download."

"And I am, but there's no telling who sent it," he said, standing up from the conduit and leaning against the wall himself. "Among the Ancients, there was a great dissent about the nature of _Destiny's_ mission. There were great debates and discussions, and while the majority agreed with the mission, there was an influential minority that nearly prevented the mission from ever happening. They were a group who believed that knowledge had a limit and that if one was to seek all of the answers, they would break a natural boundary and take on too much power." He scoffed and seemed to think about something humorous. "I imagine that is where the idea of the Tree of Knowledge in the Bible came from. A surviving Ancient must have ensured a lesson remained with humans, dissuading them from seeking all the knowledge and power."

"Ironic, considering they ended up ascending and taking on all of that knowledge," Young noted.

Sighing, Rush went back to his work. "Like I said, it was in the minority." He spent the next few minutes in silence, and soon managed to succeed as the power surged through the room and Young could hear the hum of all the systems powering up. "There, maybe now we can get some answers."

At that moment, the blue light on the wall panels changed to an amber and a klaxon began to resonate through the compound. All the doors to the room slowly sealed shut.

"What just happened Rush?" Young asked as he tried to open one of the doors without success.

Rush walked up to the nearest console and read it as it flickered to life. "It looks like a lockdown on the compound."

"Can you unlock it?"

Rush sat down and tried a set of commands. "I've got access to the computer, but it is protected by a code," he said in extreme aggravation as he slammed his hand on the console. "I can get around it but it's going to take some time."

"Colonel, this is Scott," the radio went off. "What just happened? The power came on here and then all the doors slammed on us?"

Young grabbed his radio and stared at Rush. "We turned the power back on and it seems to have initiated a lockdown. Stay calm. We'll get this fixed soon." He placed his radio back into his vest pocket and turned to Rush. "You can fix this?"

He sighed. "With enough time, yes, I can get around their protection and gain control of their systems. But it's not gonna be anytime soon."

* * *

><p>Wray walked down the hall and entered the Communication Room. Chloe was already there and seated, and Barnes was typing into her laptop. "Hi, Chloe," she said as she walked in.<p>

"Hey," she responded somewhat sullenly.

Wray noticed and pursued the matter. "What's wrong? Something on your mind?"

Chloe sighed and turned to face Wray. "I'm just worried about Kalin. I know that he blames himself for everything that happened with the drones, but I don't, and neither does most of the crew. I mean, when you look at the history of the SGC, some of the greatest people unleashed problems just through scientific curiosity, and they got over it."

She looked at Chloe and thought for a moment. She had been worried about Kalin as well, but she knew that in cases like these it was best to let the person work out their feelings on their own for a little while. "He didn't have that sort of environment that we did, and for him, he kept it buried for a long time. It'll be awhile, but he'll be better."

"I'm ready here," Barnes noted, opening the box with the stones. Wray grabbed hers and placed it on the terminal immediately, next to the stone that connected Brooks. Chloe waited a moment and copied her.

Wray's eyes opened and she turned her head.

"Ma'am?" Barnes asked her. "Can you state your identity?"

She turned resolutely to the Corporal. "I am Shen Xiaoyi, IOA." She looked over to Chloe as her inhabitant took in their surroundings. "This is Amelia Banks. She is on temporary reassignment from Atlantis and will provide assistance with any repairs while I am here. Now," she said looking firmly at Barnes seeing that the pleasantries were over with, "I need to speak with Major Brooks."

"She's currently off-world," Barnes said.

"Well, have someone bring her back. It's urgent that I speak with her at once," Shen said. When Barnes hesitated, Shen did not. "Corporal, I do not want to repeat myself."

Barnes nodded and rose, grabbing her radio as she did so. "Mr. Brody, this is Corporal Barnes."

"Yeah, go ahead," he said.

"Dial the world Major Brooks is on. She has a visitor from Earth who needs to speak with her," as she said this, she motioned to the door, indicating for Shen to move. Banks rose from her seat and quietly walked away down the hall after them.

"Understood," Brody said.

Barnes led the way with Shen and Banks in tow, and when they reached the Gate Room the connection had already been made. Brody looked from his console as they approached. "Brooks is coming through right now. They had just finished with their mission anyways," he noted.

Shen crossed her arms and waited for Brooks to cross through. It took a moment, but she rippled through the event horizon with Becker right behind her. They were dragging a net that had a couple of dead animals in it. They were about half the size of a person and very furry. The 'Gate shut off right behind them.

"We got dinner for tonight," Becker said enthusiastically.

Shen smirked. "Mr. Brody, you and Banks please help him bring those animals to the Mess Hall. I need a moment alone with the Major."

Banks didn't wait. "Yes, Ma'am," she said and took Brooks' place. Brody helped with less interest, and they dragged the animals out quickly.

Brooks dropped all of her gear and began to talk down through the center doorway and Shen followed right after her. "So, who would you be?" she asked, not too sure as the message for her had been quick.

"IOA, Shen," she said quickly. Brooks stopped in her steps and looked nervously up at her.

"What happened?" Brooks asked, a fear filling her.

Shen sighed and continued to walk. "The project has hit an impasse for them, just as we had hoped would happen. It has prevented them from any further experimentation, which for the meantime is good news."

Brooks was almost afraid to ask. "But?"

"But," Shen said almost unwillingly, "you've been compromised. They are aware that we've placed you here, and are attempting everything to bring you back. Don't worry; for now you're safe at the SGC and our own scientists are currently adapting your intelligence, but it's very complicated and taking time."

"We knew it would be," Brooks said. "But as long as we're first…"

"As long as we're first," Shen said, stopping in her tracks and turning towards Brooks, "we will have nothing to worry about."

* * *

><p>James struggled as she strained against the panel. Finally, after one final tug, the cover for the door control flew off.<p>

"Good," Volker noted, "now, let's see what I can do here." He took her place in front of the panel and inspected the circuitry. He pulled a few cylinders out and replaced them in a different arrangement, and reattached a set of wires, but nothing happened. He sighed. "Power has been diverted from the consoles. There's no way to open the door." Volker turned around and slumped down onto the ground. "We're stuck."

They had been stuck in a narrow stretch of hallway for at least twenty minutes, and finally he decided he would try to open the door on his own instead of waiting for Rush to do something. Still, he was their best hope right now, being the only one with access to a terminal. He grabbed his radio and called out to him again. "Dr. Rush, any luck with getting the doors opened?"

"No," Rush answered a moment lately quite angrily, "and you're not helping by asking me every minute."

He tossed his radio down and closed his eyes. Breathing slowly and carefully he tried to ignore his surroundings.

"You okay," James asked him, noticing his discomfort.

Without looking up or moving he answered. "I hate small spaces."

"Ah," she said, and sat down next to him. "Well, I have to say this place is pretty big. I mean, we're sitting right side by side and there's plenty of room still."

He looked up slowly and nodded at her. "Yeah, I guess it's not too bad." He reached out for his radio again, but James grabbed it from him.

"Maybe we can give him a few minutes to try and work on the problem," she suggested as she tucked the radio into her vest.

* * *

><p>"Why does bad stuff always seem to happen when we go off-world?" Eli asked out loud as he paced around in the rotunda they were trapped in. "I mean either we get stuck in an underground spider nest and are abandoned, or we crash into a rock face, or get attacked by evil space robots. I mean, seriously! We are cursed!"<p>

"Calm down," Scott said. He was sitting in the middle of the room and was tired of watching Eli walk circles around him. "We'll get out of this one soon. You have to admit, this isn't the worst bit of trouble we've ever been it, right?"

Eli stopped in his pacing. "Yeah, for once there's nothing out there trying to kill us." As soon as he said that he looked around the room, half-expecting something bad to happen.

"Just calm down and wait it out. _Destiny_ has a scheduled check-up with us in thirty minutes," he said as he checked his watch.

When he said that, Eli's eyes opened widely and he ran to his bag. "Idiot, of course!"

"What?" Scott asked, interested as well at whatever Eli just thought of.

He pulled out his Kino remote and held it triumphantly. "Unlike those saps in the Milky Way, we're wireless!" He started to dial the address for _Destiny_. "Why did I not think of this?" he yelled at himself.

Scott grabbed his radio out of his vest. "Colonel, this is Scott. Eli is attempting to dial the 'Gate through the Kino remote. We can probably get help that way."

"Good thinking Eli," Young said over the radio.

Eli laughed as he stared at his remote. "It worked, we've got a connection."

"It worked, Colonel," Scott relayed excitedly.

* * *

><p>"<em>Destiny<em> this is Young, come in," he said over his radio.

"Brody here, sir," he said after a few moments. "You're early; we weren't going to dial in for another half hour. Did you find something interesting?"

"No, actually we need your help," Young said, looking over at Rush who was still struggling with the computer systems. "We seem to have triggered a lockdown over here and are split up in different sections."

"Do you have access to the computer?" Brody asked.

"Yes, but it's locked. Get Varro here with a set of the Lucian unlockers. They might be able to get the job done," Young ordered.

"And get Kalin over here," Rush interjected. "He's good with the Ancient computers; maybe he can help speed this up."

Young nodded at his suggestion. "Did you copy all that Mr. Brody?"

"Yes, sir. They'll be there soon," Brody said and then the line was filled with static.

He replaced his radio and looked up at Rush. "I didn't know you thought so highly about Kalin."

Rush sighed and reclined in his seat, tired of staring at a screen that yielded nothing of use to him. "I wouldn't go that far, but he's proven he is capable when it comes to Ancient technology and alien technology in general."

"Even if he was the one that woke the drones up and made them such a threat to us?" Young asked cautiously.

Rush smirked at him at this comment. "Let's be honest. If I got mad at him for a mistake he made because he jumped the gun on a scientific endeavor, then I'd just be a hypocrite." He sighed and looked up at Young. He was speaking earnestly right now, and Young was listening. "We all make mistakes, but it's what we do after that mistake that defines us. He understands his mistake, but he is afraid now; afraid to make another mistake and that's where he's gone wrong. He needs to get back out of his shell and do what he's good at. When you think about it, at its core science is about making mistakes to find the right answer."

* * *

><p>The pounding came at his door again. Kalin still sat silently in the dark, ignoring it. "Kalin, it's Camille." He continued to gaze out into the stars. He hadn't moved at all, and hadn't had anything to eat or drink in almost a day, but he didn't feel hunger or thirst. "Kalin, I don't need you to do anything but listen to me, okay. We need your help. Some of our people are trapped on a Nati facility, and Rush believes that your expertise in Ancient technology can help them."<p>

His head turned towards the door. He was listening to her, but wasn't too sure of the words he was hearing.

"You might be thinking, that because of one mistake you made, we don't trust you," she said, her voice, however muffled, making its way to him. "Believe me, we understand your usefulness to us, and we are not going to push you from the crew. We all understand what you went through in losing your loved ones and being far from home. All of us are on this ship together, and we need to stand for each other. Let us help you."

He was still seated on his bed, but his attention was not purely focused on the door and he could feel his face getting wet on the cheek. This ship had been in his dreams forever, and now it was a home for him; a home where he had people that could forgive him.

"Kalin, can you hear me?" Wray continued. "It's important that you listen to me, and that you know there are people here on this ship that care for you, and we can only help you if you let us."

Nodding to himself, he rose from his bed and walked up to the door and opened it. Wiping the tears off of his cheek, he stood in front of it, greeted by Wray's cordial smile.

"What can I do?" he said softly, but with enough resolution that Wray knew he was back with them.

* * *

><p>Varro quickly jumped into the compound through the wormhole and looked around. The lights were blinked a dim amber, and the alarm was still blaring. Brooks and Kalin were right behind him. "This is discouraging," Brooks noted.<p>

Kalin ran up and reached one of the consoles. "It's operational, but locked. I don't think I can do anything from here."

Varro lowered his weapon and walked up to the nearest door. He grabbed one of the Lucian Alliance door unlocking devices and slammed it on the lock. As it worked its magic, Brooks got on the radio. "Colonel, this is Major Brooks. We are here on the compound and are making our way to you." As she said that, the door opened. "Eli was right. The devices work perfectly."

"Good. Make your way to the Control Interface Room first. Maybe Kalin can help unlock the system from here," Young ordered.

"Understood," she said. Varro handed a device to each of them.

"I'll go to Young," Kalin said and walked off through the open hall, taking the path that would lead to the Control Interface Room on _Destiny_. He had to go through several doors before he even got near their location, but after a few minutes he reached them. "Colonel Young," he said as he walked through the now opened door.

Young nodded at him and indicated to Rush. "Go help him unlock the computer, and give me that," he added, pointing to the Lucian unlocking device. Kalin obediently dropped it into his hand and walked over to one of the available consoles.

"So, have you had any luck bypassing the lockout?" he asked.

"Some, but most of it is still locked," Rush responded. They worked quietly for a few minutes, and once some progress was made, Rush spoke up. "For what it's worth, you have great potential, and you made it to _Destiny_ for a reason. You have nothing to be ashamed of from your past."

Kalin acknowledged him silently and continued to work. After another few minutes, they were met with success. The alarm stopped and the amber lights reverted to their usual blue glow. "Good work," Rush noted. "Now, head down to the Gate Room and dial back to _Destiny_. Tell Mr. Brody that our situation is better. I'll stay here and try to search the database for some useful information."

Nodding, he walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>"Good job, Kalin," Eli remarked as they met in the hallway. Young and Varro had found them and they were all gathered together.<p>

"Thanks," he said. He turned to Young. "I'll head back to _Destiny_ and relay the news to Mr. Brody." With that he walked off, and with a nod of Young's head Scott and James went with him.

"Well, he seems better," Eli noted. He looked up the Young. "Um, there's something that I want your help with. When we were on the Nati home world they mentioned a temple. I sounded like and underground complex in addition to this facility. I wanted to see if we could find it."

Young nodded. He grabbed his radio once more. "Rush, can you access the layout for this facility and look for anything that might be a separate underground base?"

There was static for a few moments before the response came. "I've got it. There appears to be a breach leading into it. It's close to your current position. Head down the hall and bear left at the end." Young listened and went where he directed. "Go all the way down that hallway and take the right. You should see the breach right there."

Rush was right; the breach was right there and obvious. The whole was in the floor and went all the way up into the ceiling. "We see it. We're gonna check it out," he said into his radio before returning it to his vest. He walked up to it and turned on his flashlight. Inside he could see a catwalk overlooking some cavern. "I'll take a look in here first." He carefully descended himself down into the breach and settled himself on the catwalk. It was running along the edge of a large wall, and he looked out into the dark cavern. "Okay, it seems safe." Varro came next, and then Eli jumped down after him.

"This place is huge," Eli echoed. He looked to his right and saw a set of controls. Walking over to them he investigated them. "Colonel, these consoles are of Ancient design. I guess the Nati were telling the truth when the said there was more underneath their base."

Joining him at the console Young shone his flashlight out into the cavern, but couldn't see anything. "Can you get some information about this place?"

Eli fiddled with the controls for a moment and after a moment there was a low hum. "Not sure, but I think I got the lights." He looked reassuringly at Young. "Just the lights, I swear." They all looked back out into the cavern that was now brightly illuminated. "Well something was here." The entire inside was fully furnished with a metal interior and there were robotic cranes and stations everywhere.

"Something was definitely built here," Varro remarked, "but it's been moved since." He was right. There was a lot of equipment and work stations, and a definite lack of things for them to work on.

"Colonel, this is Dr. Rush. I need you in the Control Interface Room, _now_," he said urgently over the radio.

Young looked over to Eli and sighed. "On my way," he responded, placing his radio back in his vest. "Let's go," he said. Eli seemed disappointed to have to leave so suddenly, but there didn't seem to be much of anything else to discover, and the terminal had yielded nothing useful. Varro leapt up through the breach first and helped Eli up. Young went up last and they were soon back in the Nati compound. "Grab that bag," he said to Varro as he noticed they had forgotten their bag of supplies.

Snatching it off of the floor, Varro went right beside Young and Eli as they stormed down the hall and reached the Control Interface Room. "What is it, _this _time?" Young asked.

"And it better be something really good, because we just found something amazing underground," Eli through in, tired of having Rush being the center of attention with all of his discoveries.

"We came here to find some information, right?" he started, ignoring Eli's comment, to which Young nodded. "Well, I found something that worries me." He executed a set of commands and brought up the holographic display. It was not quite a flawless projection; most likely the projector was damaged, but the image was still clear. It was an image of the alien ship that kidnapped Chloe. "The Nati database had a rather extensive database on them."

"Did they have a name for them?" Eli asked out of the blue. Rush looked up at him incredulously from the console. "What? I'm tired of calling them 'The aliens that kidnapped Chloe'. It's a pain to say."

Sighing, Rush continued. "Well, if you must know, they did interrogate some of their race with their own technology, and learned a great deal about them. They call themselves the Nakai. The database has a clear record of the encounter two years ago, which would correspond with the time _Destiny_ might have entered this galaxy if we were at full power. The Nati had superior numbers and overwhelmed them."

"So the threat from them in this galaxy should be gone, or at least hindered, right?" Young asked.

"Wait, were they the ones that destroyed the Nati fleet?" Eli interjected again.

"The database doesn't have any records of the battle," he answered Eli quickly, and then looked back to Young. "No, actually it's not," Rush said quietly. "I looked through more of their records and discovered that the Nati had observed a fleet of unidentified ships around thirty years ago, passing through their region of the galaxy and continuing along a path through the galaxy we just came from. Using whatever data they had, I've confirmed that those ships are indeed of Nakai origin."

"What are you saying?" Young asked, his heart pounded as he dreaded whatever news the scientist was going to tell him.

Rush leaned back and tried to keep a straight face. "We assumed, from our first encounter with this race, that they had been following _Destiny_ from their home galaxy, which we believed to have been far behind us." His face trembling slightly and his voice grew lower. "We were wrong. Based on the course the fleet was taking, and the information the Nati extracted from their prisoners, we never passed their home." He paused again. "We've been heading _to_ it."

Eli stared at the display as it showed the galaxy they were in and a line that indicated the path the fleet took. It led to the next galaxy in their path and ended on one of the spirals. "But, none of that makes sense. Why would they leave and go so far out from their galaxy?"

"According to the information they obtained, the Nakai found a Seed Ship in their galaxy. They accessed its computers and learned about its mission and about _Destiny_. They wanted that information and the power of _Destiny_, and set out to find it. They knew the course it would take as the Seed Ships were determining it, and they followed it to the ship. Ever since they found it, they've spent years trying to get past its defenses, but never could." He looked down and grimaced. "That is, until we came along. And because of the download on _Destiny_, I cannot alter our course, which will take us right through their galaxy."

Rush sat in silence now, staring at the display. Young was fixated on the display as well, entirely dismayed at this information. "You're sure that the data is accurate?" he asked out of an unconscious need.

"I doubled checked the records for authenticity and viability," Rush said. "They are accurate. The question is," he continued, leaning in to the console, "what are we going to do about it?"

"Don't turn this into an excuse to work on breaking the program," Young said.

"Look at this," he said, pointing at the display. "This is where the program is going to take us, unless I can change it."

"What happened to the mission?" Young asked, pulling a card he knew Rush would listen to. "When Eli wanted us to skip the last galaxy you argued him, because of the mission. The drones there are just as bad a threat, if not much worse than these Nakai. What makes this different?"

Rush didn't answer at first, but continued to stare at the display. "Because this time we're not in control, and there is no guarantee that we were meant to go to this galaxy anyways. And don't you want us to be in control so we can protect ourselves?"

"Look at all the trouble we've gotten ourselves into ever since we got control of _Destiny. _Maybe it's not that important for us to be in control," Young added.

A beep came from Eli's bag. He reached in and pulled out his remote. "_Destiny_ leaves in five minutes, we should probably get going."

Varro picked up the bag and walked out of the room with Eli, leaving Rush and Young by themselves. Rush grabbed his own bag and flung it around his back and started to leave. The Colonel grabbed his arm as he tried to make his way past him. "Do what you have to do to protect the ship and the crew; nothing more."

* * *

><p>Rush walked back onto the bridge and made his way to the central console. As soon as he sat down, he heard a voice, but not the one he had expected. "Nick, leave this alone."<p>

He turned as saw Amanda standing beside him. He gaped at her and backed away slowly. "It was you, earlier?" he asked.

She nodded and held her arms in front of her, trying to reach out for him but not moving forward. "There are many things that you don't understand about _Destiny_, it's history, and future. I'll make sure, that in time, you do."

"What's going on? What has been happening with everything?" he begged her. "I need answers, Mandy!"

"I can't give them to you, not yet. Everything must be allowed to happen exactly as it should, and if I tell you, then you might try to change something," she said. Standing firmly and resolutely she spoke with power. "I have to make sure you don't do anything that would interfere with the mission." She began to fade away, and was gone the next second.

Kalin walked in a moment later and walked to the science station. "So, you need some help with the decryption?"

Rush continued to stare at the empty space where he had just seen Amanda. "Yeah," he answered without really acknowledging his presence. As Kalin set off working, Rush kept staring into thin air. "We need to get some answers," he whispered, knowing she would hear him.

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. Enemies are hurt but not gone.<em> Destiny _is plagued and has to try to run or fight, but they must first realize the trouble that they have amongst them._


	7. Prey

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_First things first. I'm sorry this is so late. I got caught up with a heck of a lot of work. However, I finally found myself with some time, and some ideas, so I got back on here and finished up this episode. I really need to say thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with this. This story passed 5,000 hits a little while back in so many places, that... well... it really makes me happy to keep writing these stories. Lord Fielding, sacredclay, AlexanderD, Malfoystinksstinks, and all the others who review, thank you so much!_

_Episode seven, this is a big episode. Seriously, it's the longest I've written, somewhat to make up for the fact it's late. That and I tried to get action, science, drama, and development in here. I proofed this, but I did it quickly so forgive any problems. Regardless, I still hope you guys enjoy it, and please please please review this story! Give me support, feedback, critiques, ideas, stuff you do/do not like, anything! It really gives me something to go on._

_Sadly I won't be posting on any regular schedule, but with a few holidays coming up I should have some time to write at least another one or two episodes by the New Years, I hope._

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode "Worship", "Heretics", "Flight", and "Temple". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>307: Prey<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The <em>_Ancients __did __not __devote __the __efforts __of __an __entire __generation __to __build __this __ship __on __a __whim, __neither __was _Destiny _named __on __a __whim._

_The __Ancients __discovered __a __complex __structure, __the __fingerprints __of __an __intelligence._

Destiny _was __launched __in __search __of __that __intelligence._

_Who __knows __how __close __we __are __to __finding __it; __how __close __we __are __to __learning__... __in __the __Ancients' __words__... __"the __destiny __of __all __things"?_

_I __just __wanna __get __these __people __home._

_Well, __I'm __starting __to __think __that __seeing __this __mission __through __may __be __our __only __chance __of __ever __doing __that._

_I __only __know __that _Destiny _has __come __this __far, __and __if __we __abandon __her __now, __there'll __be __no __coming __back._

_This __ship __was __launched __to __solve __a __mystery __by __accumulating __knowledge __bit __by __bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_We will come for you in numbers, and ensure your annihilation._

_You don't possess anything of any use to me. Except yourself of course. You are going to help me to destroy your people._

_Those wrecks are the ships._

_Are we reading any other ships? Any indication of who might have done this?_

_This is a Nati planet._

_I think it would be a good idea to check it out. Best case scenario we can get a lot of data about this region of space and maybe even learn about who attacked them. And at the least, maybe we can get salvage some more supplies._

_We've got to find some answers._

_For __what __it__'__s __worth, __you __have __great __potential, __and __you __made __it __to _Destiny _for __a __reason. __You __have __nothing __to __be __ashamed __of __from __your __past._

_Colonel, these consoles are of Ancient design. I guess the Nati were telling the truth when the said there was more underneath their base._

_Can you get some information about this place?_

_Something was definitely built here, but it's been moved since. _

_They call themselves the Nakai. The Nati had superior numbers and overwhelmed them._

_So the threat from them in this galaxy should be gone, or at least hindered, right?_

_No, actually it's not. I looked through more of their records and discovered that the Nati had observed a fleet of unidentified ships around thirty years ago._

_We __assumed, __from __our __first __encounter __with __this __race, __that __they __had __been __following _Destiny _from th__eir __home __galaxy, __which __we __believed __to __have __been __far __behind __us. __We__'__ve __been __heading __to __it._

_Do what you have to do to protect the ship and the crew; nothing more._

_There __are __many __things __that __you __don__'__t __understand __about _Destiny_, __it__'__s __history, __and __future. __I__'__ll __make __sure, __that __in __time, __you __do.__"_

* * *

><p>"Where is the guy?" Young asked impatiently, pacing around the Mess Hall. "He only needs to swap bodies from across billions of light-years; it's not that hard."<p>

Wray smirked a little as she sat in a chair while waiting. All of the scientists and key officers were seated throughout the Mess Hall, and they were all waiting for Telford to make his appearance. "Maybe he forgot the way to the Mess. It's been three years for him."

He sat down in a chair between Rush and Wray, and as soon as he did Telford, in Scott's body, came walking into the room. "It's good to see everyone again," he said with a genuine smile when he walked in.

"David," Young said, nodding his head in greeting at his friend.

Telford looked around the room for another sign of greeting, but everyone looked grim and severe, so he knew something was up and he got down to business. "You said this meeting was urgent. I take it you learned something of importance."

"Something like that, yeah," Rush noted.

"During our last off-world mission, we found a Nati base," Young started, ignoring Rush's comment. "We discovered a few, disturbing facts while there."

Telford nodded and crossed his arms. "Well answers are still good; doesn't matter if we don't like them."

"Oh, no." Eli threw in. "We got many more questions too." He added a smirk to his expression, making the situation seem all the more dramatic.

"There was an underground chamber directly beneath the Nati facility," Young continued. "Architecture points to an Ancient design, but all intelligence says the Nati didn't know about it. From what we could tell, it was some sort of a base for construction, but whatever was built there has been moved out."

Telford frowned, looking puzzled at Young. "Well, while I admit that curious, that doesn't seem as crucial as what you are all worried about."

Young sighed and glanced at Rush, indicating for him to pick up the ball. "I managed to gain access to the Nati database while on that planet," he said. "We knew that they had had brief contact with the aliens that had kidnapped me and Chloe, but there was more in their records than that one encounter."

"For one," Eli interrupted, "they are called the Nakai." He seemed so childish bringing that up, and Rush just glared at him darkly. "What? Someone's bound to mention it eventually. Why confuse him?" he reasoned, trying to convince the others of his point.

Rush rolled his eyes and continued, and Telford remained focused on him. "The Nati have records about these aliens from thirty years ago, and their data clearly tells us that they originated from the next galaxy on our path," he said, going straight to the point.

At this point Telford scoffed and looked aghast at Rush. "You said that they had been following _Destiny_ for all of this time."

"That was my original assumption, yes," he said with extreme annoyance. "And it was clearly wrong. Look, it doesn't matter if I was right or wrong before. It matters that I'm right now." He looked seriously at Telford. "These aliens are a very real threat to us, and even in small numbers they proved dangerous. In the own galaxy, we would be defenseless against an onslaught by them."

"Well then, why don't you just do what you did in the last galaxy?" Telford asked. "Go into stasis and skip that galaxy. Hopefully they wouldn't detect _Destiny_ in F.T.L. and you could glide right past them."

"We can't do that because we can't control the course of the ship," Rush threw back. He sighed after a moment's pause and glances around. "I've still had no success in breaking the new encryption over the navigation system, and there's no guarantee I could before we reach their galaxy."

Telford rubbed his forehead in aggravation and paced around. "Didn't you say there were still some Nati ships remaining?" he finally said, turning to Rush. "They've been so weakened that maybe they'd be willing to form an alliance and help defend this ship. That way we could have strength in numbers."

"They don't really like us," Brody quipped. "We destroyed a bunch of their ships, and they probably blame us for the loss of all the other ships."

"And that's another thing that worries me," Volker said. "We have no idea who really destroyed those ships."

"If we're so close the Nakai space, couldn't it have been them?" Telford suggested. "You did say they were aggressive in the past to them."

Rush scoffed. "Yes, they were aggressive, but I found clear records of the engagement. Nati forces overwhelmed the Nakai fleet without much trouble."

"Not to mention," Eli said, rising from his chair, "we ran a scan on the derelict Nati ships, and the energy signatures weren't consistent with that of Nakai weapons. If anything, the pattern resembles Nati weapons."

"_And_," Brody added after taking a sip of water, "the Nakai couldn't have been systematic enough to target all of the Nati ships around planets but ignore the ones in deep space. Nothing about the attack is consistent with that."

Eli slumped back down into his seat. "This entire deal just makes no sense."

Telford paced around and eventually settled himself in the center of the room right in front of Young, Rush, and Wray. "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, _Destiny_ is currently in good shape," Rush said, leaning back in his seat and getting more comfortable with the discussion. "The supplies we received from the Nati have been put to use, and our defenses are stronger than they've ever been."

"So if we encounter a few ships, we'll be able to handle ourselves," Young said reassuringly.

"Only we're bound to find a lot more than just a few ships," Volker added grimly.

Young leaned in and folded his hands. "We might be fine for right now, but in the future we really would need more supplies." He sighed and looked very desperate. "I need to hear you say that you've come close to getting us a supply line from home."

Telford looked down to the floor and balled up his hands. "We've been looking for suitable planets, but the war with the Lucian Alliance has shifted our priorities."

"What about Langara?" Eli asked, hoping for some good news on one front at least.

"They were one of the first targets of the Alliance," he reported sadly. "They attacked by 'Gate and ship and after a few days had complete control of the planet. We have a few leaks on the inside getting us some information, but so far we've had no luck freeing the planet. Based on our intelligence, we do know that they hoped to use that world to dial _Destiny_, and they're using it as a base for their operations."

"Why haven't they tried to dial in yet?" Young asked.

"According to a one report, Langaran forces crippled the Stargate facility and destroyed all of the research associated with the safer method of dialing the ninth chevron," Telford said. "It set them back in their progress, and the war itself has been occupying a great deal of time for them." Everyone looked downcast in the room, and Young shook his head dejectedly. "We haven't given up," he reassured them. "We are still exploring other worlds for a possible Icarus-type world, and we're also exploring different ways of reaching you."

All of the scientists perked up and looked inquisitively at him, while the rest just had hope in their face. "What kind of ways?" Eli asked.

Telford turned to face him, and seemed to consider his words. "It's just a theory, so I don't want to get anyone's hopes up," he said carefully, looking around the room at all of it occupants.

"Hey, our hopes are already pretty low. I don't think it'd hurt us to know," Eli returned.

Telford nodded, acknowledging his point. "During the…" Telford was abruptly cut off as the blue lights in the room suddenly changed to a dim orange, an alarm sounded, and the ship buckled, sending him into a nearby table.

"What the hell just happened?" Scott asked, disorientated.

"Scott? Is that you?" Young asked. He nodded in response. Young glanced sharply over at Rush.

"That felt like a shield impact. Attenuation must have severed the link," Rush said, answering the question Young had in his mind.

The lights flickered and the ship rocked again.

"Colonel Young, this is Kalin on the bridge," he said over the radio. "A Nati ship just came out of hyper-space and has opened fire."

He grabbed his radio and held onto the table as another shot hit them. "Understood," he replied. "Everyone, get to your places. We've got work to do!"

* * *

><p>Rush, Young, Scott, and Eli went running into the Bridge as a circuit above the door shorted.<p>

"Report!" Young shouted as soon as he was within hearing distance of Kalin. He stormed over towards the center as stood by the chair. Rush ran and took a set at the center console and Scott sat at the left station. Eli sat by the science station and immediately started analyzing data. Kalin turning from his seat at the right station and answered Young.

"One Nati ship is two hundred kilometers off to port, but the design of this ship is different than the ones we encountered before," Kalin noted.

"I don't care if it's different. Scott," Young said, "take it out."

Scott set to work at his station, but after a moment of trying to acquire a target, he looked puzzled and glanced at Kalin. "Wait, I don't see it on my sensors."

Kalin glanced back at his console. "Confirmed, I don't – hang on, it's on starboard now, one hundred twenty kilometers."

"I see it now," Scott echoed. "Firing."

Observing on the monitors, Young saw a series of dots emanate from _Destiny_ and arc out to a red dot that was also firing, but as soon as _Destiny_'s weapons got near it, the dot was gone.

They shook slightly as the weapons from the Nati ship hit them, but there was no discernable damage.

"Good job, Lieutenant," Young commended.

"Sir," Scott said as he turned in his seat to face the Colonel. "I didn't do that. There were no confirmed hits on the ship."

Young furrowed his brow and looked at the monitor that was above him. As he looked at it he noticed that the red dot had returned to it, but now it was in front of _Destiny_. "What just happened?"

More energy pulses slammed into _Destiny_ and this time the communications console exploded and sent sparks across the room. "I'm not sure," Rush said, "but it looks like that ship is phasing in and out of our space-time whenever we try to attack. Anything we do just passes through it." He turned to glance at Young who was getting into his seat to brace for another hit. "I recommend diverting power to the shields. We can't seem to hurt them so we should just try to survive for another few minutes." He indicated up to the countdown clock which read three minutes.

"Do it," Young ordered, not even waiting to think. It was probably the most common tactic they used on this ship, and so far it had worked for them.

Rush nodded and turned back to face his station. He worked for a moment and then relaxed in his seat, somewhat satisfied by his work. "That should hold them off." He looked through the window in front of him at the ship that was bearing down on them.

Dozens of blue pulses lashed out from it pelting _Destiny_'s shields, but for the most part it seemed the shields were doing their job. The ship did look different from the standard Nati design. It was much more rounded out, and in the center there was a large semicircle that was sending out a bright glow. From Rush's opinion that indicated some sort of power generator, and the rounder design simply allowed for a greater firing arc capability. Suddenly, they stopped firing but continued to move closer to _Destiny_.

"What are they doing?" Scott asked out loud.

A platform on the front of the ship opened and revealed a large rotating circle with three glowing points on it. The circle sat inside of the opening and quickly began to glow brighter.

"That looks like the weapons we saw on the Nakai motherships," Eli commented, glancing from his seat. "They really did take their technology for their own."

A bright orange pulse lashed out from the ship and blasted into _Destiny_'s shields along the starboard wing. The ship rocked violently and a sparks flew from dozens of circuits.

Kalin held on tight to his seat, and once he glanced at his console he relayed the news. "Shields took a major drop from that; they're at fifty percent. We can't take too many shots from that thing!"

The main weapon on the ship was charging again, and they saw the weapon's glow intensify. Young looked up quickly at the countdown clock; it was still over two minutes. A bright flash drew his attention to the enemy ship as the weapon fired and the pulse lumbered towards _Destiny_. A blue cloud formed around _Destiny__'__s_ bow, and while the pulse was still dozens of kilometers away _Destiny_ jumped into F.T.L.

Young sat up straighter in his chair and looked around in disbelief.

"What the heck?" Scott said, just as surprised as Young, and everyone else on bridge for that matter.

Kalin just let out a deep breath and fell back into his chair. "Is life on this ship always this crazy?" he asked.

* * *

><p>Young sat at his desk in his quarters looking through some papers. He read a couple of them, but after a moment took his glasses off and tossed them on the table. A knock came from his door and he looked up to see Wray standing by it. Over the time he had spent onboard he had gotten into the habit of having an open-door policy. "Come in," he said groggily.<p>

She took a few big steps and stopped in front of his desk, taking a seat in one of the chairs. "That was a close call," she started.

"Well, from everything I knew," he returned, "it shouldn't have happened."

She fidgeted in her seat. "There're a lot of questions going around the crew. People want to know how they found us, and why _Destiny_ seems to be able to control its own actions now." She leaned forward and rested her elbows on his desk. "They don't feel safe or in control of anything anymore, and it's not good for them."

He sighed. "Rush is looking through the data from the battle, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Hopefully he should have some of those questions answered soon."

"How are you taking all of this?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked her in return, frowning at her.

She leaned back into the chair. "Losing control of _Destiny_'s systems; attacks coming from nowhere; figuring out that we're heading right into the fire." She threw her hands into the air. "Take your pick." He shook his head and looked at her, exhaustion lining his face. "The crew needs to see their leader strong even through adversity, and right now, they don't know how you are taking all of this. It's hurting them."

"Well I can't say that I like anything that's been happening, and no I don't like having lost control of this ship. But, it's the way our cards were dealt, and I think I'm starting to agree with Rush that everything here _does_ happen for a reason," he answered candidly.

She stared at him quietly for a moment, slight confusion bleeding through into her face. "Where's this coming from?" she asked. "I mean, I understand you want to work with Dr. Rush, but when did you start agreeing with him?"

He leaned in and looked at the stack of papers for a moment, and then up at her. "Right after I realized, that despite everything he's done, he's is the only person among this crew who is really a part of this ship. If anyone is going to think or act for its benefit, it's him."

"Colonel Young, this is Dr. Rush," he said over the radio.

"Speak of the devil," Young commented as he grabbed his radio from the edge of his desk. "This is Young; go ahead."

"I'm in the Control Interface Room. I think I might have some answers to recent questions."

He looked up at Wray. "I'll be right there."

* * *

><p>Young walked up the ramp to the Control Interface Room with Wray by his side. Rush and Eli were seated at different consoles, and Park, Brody, Volker, Brooks, and Kalin were already there, waiting for Young to join them.<p>

"What do you have for me?" he said as soon as he walked in.

"I've been keeping a track on the Nati ships this entire time, and I was making sure we were safe," Rush said, showing a map of the galaxy on the display. "I figured that they did not know we were tracking them through communications, so this would be a reliable way to monitor their movements." He zoomed in on one of the dots. "Last week, this ship went dark, and I assumed that it had just been destroyed or scavenged for parts, or in some way put out of use. I've studied that signal, and based on the properties of the signal, it is safe to believe the ship that we just encountered was that ship."

"So they figured how we were tracking them and switched to another frequency or just went silent," Young noted.

"That's one possibility, but I don't think it's right," he stated firmly. He switched the image on display to show a model of the ship that they had just engaged. "I have this information from the Nati database I accessed on their world. This seems to be a first-of-its-class ship, a hybrid of Nati and Nakai technology, and even other technology that they must have absorbed from other races they encountered. That phase-shifting technology they used to defend their ship clearly did not look like something they would have designed on their own."

"Guess it's safe to say that they're the Borg of this galaxy," Eli said, smirking at himself. "They've added the technological distinctiveness of others to their own," he chirped robotically.

Completely shoving Eli's statement out of mind and giving him no merit in the conversation, Rush went on with his discussion. "Based on the data, this ship was meant to be a specialized hunter ship, designed to target any particularly resistant ships or races. It would seem that in addition to it being such a unique killing machine, it was also meant to be covert in operation, so it would not communicate with the other ships often as a way of maintaining that stealth. I suppose another aspect of this was so as to keep as little of this ship from public knowledge. A secret and effective enemy can often deliver the most effective message into an opponent," Rush concluded.

"So we're still a target, even after they lost pretty much everything," Eli commented, trying to sum up Rush's monologue.

Young folded his arms and walked up to Rush. "Can you use this intelligence to find a weakness we can exploit, if we encounter them again?"

"And, on the same line," Volker said, "how did they find us in the first place?"

Rush let out a breath and continued to read from the display. "This ship seems to have another aspect to it that makes it even more difficult to defeat, and we've already observed it. There is a phase-shifting device that can make it completely impervious to anything we try to destroy it with, and allows it to move quickly across short distances. In addition, the weapon that they added is incredibly powerful. To be honest, it just might be their Achilles Heel."

"How so?" Young asked.

"They can't operate any other weapon platforms at the same time, and it seems their phase-shifting technology must be off-line for them to fire at us. Their shields are also weakened at that time," he noted.

"Well that seems to be a pretty big design flaw," Kalin said. "We should try to take advantage of it."

"When you consider the fact that this weapon can effectively destroy almost any vessel in a few shots," Rush said shortly, "That doesn't sound like a flaw to me." He turned to look at Volker. "And to answer that, it would seem safe to say that they have a tracking device somewhere on _Destiny_."

"The supplies," Brody spoke up. "They could have placed a transmitter on something they gave us and are using it to follow us."

"That's definitely a possibility, but it's wrong," Rush said. Everyone stared him, curious at what was making him so certain. "I ran a scan of the ship for any out-going signals, and I only found one." He sat back and reclined in his seat, staring straight at Eli.

He looked uncomfortable as he fidgeted in his chair. "What are you looking at me for?"

"When I was taken by the Nakai, they placed a transmitter in me," Rush said. "I'm picking up an identical signal from Eli."

"What?" Eli shouted. "No no no no. That can't be right."

"You were the only member of the team that the Nati removed and, when we got you back you were comatose," Rush said, laying out the facts. "You wouldn't have known what they did."

Eli wanted to say something else, but couldn't think of anything else and just slumped down into his chair.

"Go down to the Infirmary and have TJ check you out," Young said. "I want to confirm this before we continue." Eli started to argue, but Young stopped him. "Go." Frustrated, but definitely curious himself, Eli obeyed and left the room. "Anything else?" he asked Rush.

He shrugged as he glanced at Young. "No, this is all I've managed to figure out. I don't have any more ideas."

"Fine," Young said, moving to leave the room. "If you get anything else, let me know when I get back. I'm going to go and check in with Earth," he added with some irritation. It did feel annoying for him to constantly keep Homeworld Command apprised of their condition when they were too far to do anything about anything. "They're probably worried about us after the communication stones cut off Telford." He slowly walked out of disappeared into the hallway.

Rush sighed and leaned in to his console. He studied the display, trying to learn everything that he could about this new threat. Something was still nagging him about _Destiny_itself. He brought up the F.T.L. record and ran a diagnostic of the countdown clock. There was no reason that the ship should have jumped before the clock was done.

"Some things are important enough to warrant breaking the rules," he heard a voice say. He looked up and on the other side of the display he saw Amanda.

He was tired of playing games with her. "What's important enough? Why do you keep coming back to tell me these things if you won't help me?"

She smiled a little but looked a little hurt as well. "I did help you."

He thought for a moment, and then understood. "You caused _Destiny_ to jump early?" She nodded in answer to his question. "Why?"

"You are forever linked with _Destiny_," she said. "I couldn't risk losing you." With that, she vanished again, and he leaned back into his chair, dejected as he was left with only more questions.

* * *

><p>"Well," TJ said, reading off from the information the scan returned, "it seems that Rush was right. There is something emitting a low-level signal."<p>

"Why are we just noticing it?" Eli asked from the bed he was in.

She walked up to him from the computer monitor. "I wasn't looking for anything like that before, so I guess I wasn't going to find it."

"Can you shut it down remotely?" Young asked from the table.

She stared at the screen for a moment and considered her options. "It's possible. We have access to more of the Ancient technology than we did the first time, but I still might need to remove it surgically."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "Do what you can. We'll be in F.T.L. for at least the next four hours; probably a little longer. See if you can disable it before that time," he said to TJ and Eli.

Eli grinned back at him and stared unpleasantly at the table of surgical equipment near him. He quickly grabbed the laptop next to his bed and started to sift through the Ancient medical database and the Novus database. He really didn't want to be cut open so he put maximum effort into finding another option.

* * *

><p>Brody sat fiddling with a long piece of copper wire, trying to fix the still. Over the course of the three years some parts had corroded, so he was busy replacing any faulty pieces. Park and Greer were in the bay with him, watching him work. Greer had a look of slight disbelief on his face.<p>

"We're possibly going to be destroyed by some super-hybrid alien ship, and now you decide to fix this damn thing?" he asked.

Looking up from the wire after he placed it into the slot of the still he answered casually. "Now's the best time to do it. Everyone's down in the dumps. They could use this." He looked a little uncomfortable for a brief moment. "That and Rush yelled me out of the Bridge, so I just got tired of having to fight him."

"Ah," Greer let out softly, nodding his head in understanding. He watched as Brody fiddled a little bit with another few knobs and then stood back to admire the piece of technology. "Hey, doc?" he asked, getting a funny look from Brody. "Does it work now?"

Brody glanced back at the still quickly. "Yeah, it should."

Greer smiled and held up his cup. "Then you've got waiting customers."

He looked somewhat annoyed and glad at the same time as he grabbed Greer's cup and started up his still. He waited for a moment and poured out a small amount into the cup. Shaking it up, he took a sniff. It was pretty strong and it burned his eyes. Greer chuckled as Brody quickly moved back and handed the cup promptly over to him.

"Can't be that bad," Greer joked. He took the cup and drank it straight down without a moment's pause. Park watched him as he swallowed it and squeezed his eyes shut. He let out a soft cough and left Brody and Park in a fit of laughter. "Okay," he forced out sharply, "maybe it is." He slammed the cup back on the table and sat back joining in the laughter.

"Yeah, I'll fix it," he said. Holding his laughter back, Brody took up the cup and started to fiddle with the still while Park continued to crack up and lean on Greer's shoulder.

* * *

><p>Young was making a mental pact to make sure that he was not going to hold back from all the bureaucrats and behind the desk military types this time. It was always about them, and it was really. He was putting this all into his mind as he sat down at the chair in the Communications Room.<p>

"Are you ready, sir?" Barnes asked him from the other side of her laptop.

He didn't answer, but focused for a moment, and then shook his head with exhaustion. "Let's do it." Young reached out and took up a stone and swiftly placed it on an open slot next to Brooks' space. Closing his eyes he felt the slight disorientation as he switched bodies.

The new inhabitant gasped as he took over Young's body and quickly opened his eyes.

"Colonel Telford?" Barnes asked after a moment. The new consciousness had been in Young for a few seconds and had yet to identify himself. Instead, he was looking around inquisitively. She was getting a little worried. "Please state your identity," she ordered firmly.

Now over the initial phasing from the body switching, the inhabitant glanced over Young's body, looking at the name tag and holding out his hands in front of his body. "Fascinating," he mumbled. After another moment's pause he looked up at Barnes.

"Identify yourself," she repeated, reaching for the gun at her side.

The inhabitant paused for a moment, seemed to think, and then answered her. "Colonel Telford."

She didn't buy it, and she clearly betrayed that on her face. "Security code, please," she said slowly.

He smirked in annoyance and relaxes as he looked square at Barnes. "Sorry," he said quietly.

They both moved quickly. She darted for her gun and tried to release her safety, and he made for her throat. He swiftly snapped the side of his hand against her windpipe, making her clutch her throat as she lost her breath immediately, her gun flying across the room. Heavily disorientated now, she was hit across the face by her laptop and went down to the ground. She crumpled unconscious to the floor, blood dripping out of her nose. "You had to make this difficult, didn't you?" he mumbled as he stared over her body. He shook his head in disappointment and kneeled down to pick up Barnes' gun that she had dropped onto the ground. After a quick inspection to understand its design, he slung it into the belt of his pants.

He stood back up and walked out of the room. Pulling off the cover plate on the locking mechanism, the inhabitant expertly navigated around the controls and was rewarded by a short beep as the door sealed shut. The lock spun around and quickly sealed itself shut. Satisfied, he replaced the cover of the panel and started off down the hallway.

The ship rumbled softly as he walked, and that was the only thing that made this place seem different than home to him. The hall's dimensions, the glare of the light, the smell of the steam was all the same. It was uncanny, and made him wonder more about the history of his people. But that was not to be debated with right now.

Another set of footsteps was approaching from ahead of him, but to prevent any kind of concern on that person he kept walking normally. A smile shone on the corner of his face as Wray passed through into the hall with him.

"Colonel Young," she said brightly, strolling up to him. "Or Colonel Telford?" she added with a smirk.

He nodded slightly. "Telford," he responded promptly, and walked up to join her.

"I hope you weren't too startled by your disconnection earlier today. It wasn't intentional," she apologized.

He wasn't too sure how to respond properly, but he figured she was referring to the attack that his ship executed. "No, it's alright. I assumed that you would try to restore communications soon, and you did. It leaves no worries," was his response.

Wray scoffed a little and glanced sideways at him. "Wow, you've changed attitude in the last three years," she commented. "Well, anyways, you probably want to be brought up to speed. I'll take you to the Bridge. Rush would be best to do it."

He stopped in the middle of a mezzanine. He glanced through one of the hallways and into the Gate Room. "I'm afraid I have something else that I must do," he said slowly and began to walk down the corridor to the Gate Room.

"Telford, what's wrong?" Wray asked worriedly, following after him at a distance.

He stared up at the Stargate and looked content. "On the contrary, there is nothing wrong now." The inhabitant turned around and stared at Wray with intense hatred. He took the gun out of his belt and leveled it at her head. "Now direct me to your control room so I may finish my task."

She started to back off in fright, but he quickly ran up and grabbed her, keeping her right where she was. "Who are you?" she asked in panic. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, don't disappoint me so, Ms. Wray," he said with a smile. "Of the few members of your crew, you showed such remarkable skills with understanding people. Now, you tell me. Who am I?" he finished this with a small chuckle and rested the gun to her cheek as he held her firmly against the walls.

Wray's face contorted as it was pressed against the bulkhead and as she was struggling to think. Her eyes widened as she understood. "Tarym?" she let out with a gasp.

He laughed aloud again. "See? I knew you could figure it out. Now," he said as he released her and turned her to face him, "the control room, please?" Wray struggled for a moment but Tarym held tightly onto her. "Don't do anything stupid. This body has the proper strength to accommodate my will, so I can't see you getting free. And you wouldn't dare to hurt me either, or you'd only hurt your," he paused as he looked down at the name tag again, "Colonel Young."

Seeing Wray's face frown in understanding only gave Tarym more satisfaction. "How are you here?" she asked.

"Somehow I don't think that's really your biggest concern right now," Tarym said, losing his smile and lowering his voice, nudging the gun against her temple to remind her of its presence. "But, needless to say, our attack was fortunate for many reasons. It provided a perfect forum for us to analyze the signal used by the long range communication technology. Several years ago, I came across one and my pattern was imprinted upon it, so I could make a connection to the stone on your end," he informed her casually. Leaning in closer, he whispered, "Thank your resident young genius for informing us how."

"You tortured him for that information," Wray said, defending Eli. "He would never have told you anything willingly to hurt us." She was speaking entirely on adrenaline now, terrified out of her mind and just trying to keep him talking.

"His intentions notwithstanding, I'm still here. Now, if I have to ask you once more, it will not end well for you," he said threateningly.

Tarym released her and backed up, giving her room to move away. Carefully, Wray started to walk down the hallway. He followed right after her, keeping the gun pressed against her back.

It was a long, slow walk to the Control Interface Room, and when Wray brought him there Volker and Kalin were in there. They looked up quickly to see who it was and then went back to their work. Tarym leaned in close to Wray and whispered to her, "Get them to leave, now. And don't do anything unwise," he warned, pushing the gun against her spine once more.

She took a deep breath and looked back at Tarym with the corner of her eye. Trying to look normal, she turned back to Volker. "Rush wants to talk to you two on the Bridge. Something about an idea how to get past the Nati ship's defenses," she said casually.

Volker looked up at her from his work with enthusiasm. "Really? That's great news. Why didn't he just radio us though?"

Wray paused for a split second and quickly figured out something to say. "Rush left his radio in the Mess Hall. I was just on the Bridge so he asked me to get it for him, and to pass the message on to you."

"Okay," Volker responded. He grabbed his radio and motioned for Kalin to come with him. "Colonel," he said, nodding at Tarym as they both walked out of the Control Interface Room. Once their footsteps had receded he pushed her forward into the room.

"Good job," Tarym said in a congratulatory tone. "Now, go and stand over there." He motioned to a spot in front of one of the console near the core. As she slowly walked there he made his way to the console itself. Confident that she was right where he wanted her to be, he started to work at the console while keeping his gun aimed at her. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

* * *

><p>Young opened his eyes to a bright room. He was strapped down in a chair. His first instinct in this unfamiliar setting was to get free, but he quickly found the restraints were very tightly fastened and there was no point in fighting through them. Looking around the room quickly, he saw a figure standing beside him with its back to him. "Who are you?" Young demanded at the figure. "What do you want with me?" He looked around the room quickly, trying to recognize anything. The room was small, well-lit but without any furniture other than the chair restraining him. There was a door in front of the figure. Gazing closer at the figure he understood he was human. "Are you Lucian Alliance? Who are you?"<p>

The man turned around. He was dressed in a familiar dark gray uniform of the Nati. He gave the Colonel a crooked smile as he approached him. "Perhaps on your world customs are different, but understand that when you are the prisoner, you do not have the privilege of asking questions. Instead, you will answer ours. And besides, why waste your time asking questions that you know the answer to?" the man said to Young with a controlling voice. He walked around the room slowly and stopped right in front of Young. "However, as these circumstances are most unusual, I will grant you a certain amount of understanding. Tarym is using the… what do you call them… communication stones?" he said mockingly. "The impudence that your people have to apply such crude names to the gifts of the Lords. Regardless, it is technology and as such we can find a way to use it for our needs."

"Why are you doing this to us?" Young asked suddenly, talking over the man. "We are leaving your space. We have no intentions against your people. Why can't you just let us alone?"

"Because you stand for everything that is against our ways!" he yelled at Young. He stepped forward and nearly attacked Young, but held back knowing that he was in his leader's body. "You came here into our land and brought into question everything that we knew to be true. The lives of millions are also on your hands. Do you really expect us to simply let you go?"

"We weren't responsible for the destruction of your ships and colonies," Young countered. "We don't know who is responsible, but it was not us."

"You think we can accept as simple coincidence the arrival of your ship and the destruction of most of our civilization?" he retorted with a scoff. "No, events like that have something in common. Though it is true that your one ship alone could not be responsible. It may be formidable, but clearly not capable of striking dozens of worlds at the same time. So tell me, where the rest of your ships?"

"There is no one else," Young said. "We are alone here."

The man looked unsatisfied. "No matter. Your friends have not bothered us anymore. You however are still here, and your continued presence does bother us." His expression returned to its previous confident state. "Still, we have plans that are being put in motion that will end your nuisance to our people soon enough."

"You've put your leader on _Destiny_?" Young scoffed. "Well, if you really want to destroy it, then you must not like him very much."

He looked curiously at Young. Clearly this information was unknown to him. "Oh, you don't know do you? If one of our bodies dies while connected, we _both_die," he emphasized. The man took in a deep breath and stared gravely at Young. "Is he really willing to die for this cause?" As convicted of his beliefs as Tarym seemed, his brief description indicated that he would not put his own life on the line.

"We are all willing to make sacrifices to achieve our means," the man stated firmly. "Now, you will tell me what the weak points of your vessel are, so your people will suffer for as short a period as possible?"

Young leaned forward as far as he could through the restraints and looked straight at his interrogator. "Go. To. Hell."

* * *

><p>Tarym sighed in agitation for the third time in the last five minutes. Leaning against the core more calmly now, Wray looked over to the console he was working at. "Problem?" she asked as annoyingly as she could. Finding the weak points in your captor was always a good way to find a way to escape them.<p>

He looked up at her with a drained expression. His hand motioned to the gun that he had put down on the side of the console, reminding her of who was in charge. "It would be good for you to not try and distract me. Your usefulness right now is minimal," he threatened. He went back to work for another moment before stopping again. "And yes, there is a problem. There is no simple way to destroy this ship; that much I have confirmed."

Wray just smirked. "So sorry to hear that. What did you expect? A big button label 'Press here to blow us _Destiny_'? The Ancients made a lot of things convenient, but if I've learned something over the last couple of years, the Ancients went through intense trials to make this ship survive."

Ignoring her comments, Tarym looked back to the console. After a minute he started to chuckle. "Well, that's a big flaw," he said quietly. He quickly began executing a set of controls.

Now Wray felt she had reason to be alarmed. She walked up and looked over the console. "What are you doing?" The blue lights on the wall suddenly shifted to orange, and a loud klaxon sounded through the ship. She backed up and held onto the core as the ship started to rock violently. "What's happening?"

Holding onto the console, Tarym was equally shaken up and he spoke loudly to be heard over the klaxon. "A key fault: your ship must have shields to survive F.T.L. transit. Perhaps I can't directly destroy your ship, but I can set into motion events that can. I've deactivated your shields, so now there is nothing to…"

He was cut off as the ship slammed to a halt and he was sent down to the floor. Wray went down as well, and the gun slid off the console and landed between them.

She sat up as quickly as she could and looked right at Young's body. He darted up quickly to and looked around in confusion. "Wray?" he said in shock. "What's happened?"

"Colonel?" she said. He immediately nodded in response. "Where are you?"

"On a Nati ship, or colony," he said quickly. "I'm not sure, but they are using the stones to put someone on _Destiny_. Don't trust whoever is in my body."

She nodded her head. "I know. It's Tarym."

"If it comes to it, don't hold back," Young said urgently. "Sho…"

Tarym returned at that moment and reached quickly for the gun. "Agh, I hoped I would not need to go through that," he said with aggravation, standing back up and keeping the gun trained on Wray. "You should have taken advantage of this situation to change the tide of war."

Wray slowly stood as well and backed up against the core again. "Guess that proves I'm not the military type," she said with disappointment. Though she didn't show it, she knew that she ruined a perfect opportunity. "What happened then? Clearly you didn't succeed," she said holding her arms out to indicate she was alive, "'cause we're still here."

He frowned at her and slowly turned back to the console, keeping the gun aimed at her. "It would seem, your ship has multiple redundancies. In the absence of a shield, the ship automatically left F.T.L. before vaporization from the unstable vortex could occur," he said dejectedly. "How very disappointing."

"You know that someone will know something has happened," Wray threatened him. "Rush, or someone else will be looking for you now."

Tarym continued looking at the console and smiled again. "Let them look. They won't have far to explore," he said as he executed yet another command.

* * *

><p>"Lisa, are you okay?" Greer said as he pulled a crate off of her and stood her up.<p>

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, holding her arm where the edge of the crate had cut her. He held her arm carefully, looking at the wound worriedly. "It's nothing. I'll be okay," she reassured him. "What happened?" she asked Brody.

He got up and leaned on the desk with his still. He sighed aloud as the still was clearly broken again. "I have no idea. It felt like we exited F.T.L. on an uncontrolled vector." Brody looked around at the wall panels that were still glowing orange. "Something is definitely wrong though. We should get to the Control Room."

Greer helped Park towards the door with Brody right behind them. Just as they approached it, the door sealed shut and locked itself. The panel went from orange to red as it locked off the door. "Hey, doc," Greer said to Brody. "What's going on here?"

Brody made his way to the front and quickly investigated the panel. "It looks like the ship has gone into a lockdown. But I can't tell why," he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his radio, only to find that there was nothing there. "Damn, I left my radio on the Bridge." Brody looked hopefully at Greer and Park.

"I left mine in my quarters," Park confessed apologetically.

Greer backtracked to the table with the still. "I left mine over here," he said. He looked on the tabletop, but when he saw that it wasn't there, he searched on the floor. After a short moment, he found it under a heavy crate. Pulling it out, he saw that it was smashed into a dozen pieces. He threw it back to the ground angrily. "It's worthless." He rose and walked back to the door. "Do you think you can open it from here?"

Brody looked at the panel without much confidence. "Maybe, just help me get this panel off," he asked. Greer walked up and grabbed the panel. He strained for a second before it came flying off. He raised his eyebrows and knelt down in front of the panel. "Thanks."

* * *

><p>"What in the hell was that?" Eli shouted as he picked himself off of the floor next to his bed in the Infirmary. TJ was the only other person in the room, and she was standing up against the door, slamming on the door panel with no luck.<p>

"I have no idea," she responded. "It looks like a lockdown." She walked over to her desk and grabbed her radio. "Dr. Rush, this is TJ in the infirmary. The doors just locked up down here right after that… well whatever that was."

"Copy that," he responded briskly over the radio. "We've gone into a ship-wide lockdown. It seems to have been activated from within the Control Interface Room."

Eli walked over to TJ and asked for the radio. She handed it over to him without any question. "Rush, why did we exit F.T.L. like that?"

"Someone, probably the same person who activated the lockdown, deactivated the shields. The ship seems to have had a failsafe for that occurrence."

He looked worriedly at TJ and fiddled with the radio before responding. "Who's in the Control Room?"

"Volker and Kalin just came up to me a moment before we exited F.T.L. They said Wray and Colonel Young came into the room," he said carefully and paused for a moment. "Wray said I sent her down there because I didn't have my radio, and I know the Colonel was checking in with Earth."

"Why would Wray say that?" TJ asked.

Eli looked even more concerned. "Corporal Barnes, come in," Eli said hurriedly into the radio. He waited for a static-filled moment. "Corporal Barnes, are you there?" He looked gravely at TJ. "Rush, Barnes isn't answering her radio."

"She could have just been knocked unconscious when we dropped out," TJ reasoned, hoping that she would be right, pending any alternatives.

"Or not," Rush said grimly, voicing the darkest of the options, as usual. "Lt. Scott and Varro were in one of the hallways adjacent to the Control Interface Room last they checked in," he informed Eli quickly. "I'm gonna see if they can investigate, maybe shed some light on what's happening in there."

"Understood," Eli acknowledged, handing the radio back to TJ.

She took it and placed in on the table near her. "In the meantime," she started, folding her arms and taking in a breath, "maybe we should address the issue of the transmitter in there," she said pointing at Eli.

"Right," he said slowly, backing up to the bed. He pulled the laptop of the floor and opened up the files he was looking at. "I actually did find something that might be useful." He brought up one particular file and showed it to TJ. "This was in the Ancient database, so we should be able to use it easily. It's a process that can dissolve any foreign bodies wherever administered. It's like a focused version of radiation therapy, but so precise that it doesn't contaminate any of the other tissue. It actually doesn't list any side effects. I don't claim to know exactly how it works, but… well." He looked up triumphantly from the laptop. "The equipment is actually right in here; it's just an attachment to the scanning laser. Should be pretty easy to figure out how to calibrate it to find the exact location of the device."

She pulled up a chair and stared at the schematic for the device. "This just might work," she noted after a minute of reading up on it. "Good job, Eli."

* * *

><p>"What do you think you can accomplish from here?" Wray asked Tarym. He had put the gun back down on the console, so she felt it might be safe to force the issue once again. "The computer is encrypted for the most part, and as you just found out, there are plenty of ways <em>Destiny<em> can stop any possible problem."

Tarym continued to work ardently, not taking the time to look at her anymore. "Don't worry. There's always something to be done," he said confidently.

Footsteps were heard from the hallway on the opposite side of the room. Tarym seemed startled and looked up immediately. He grabbed the gun and walked around the console to grab Wray. He pulled her right next to him and kept the gun hidden behind her back, and as a reminder to her. "Just continue your good behavior," he warned as he worked with his free hand.

Varro and Scott appeared at the threshold and walked into the room. They were both armed and walked in very carefully. "Wray, is everything alright down here?" Lt. Scott asked, keeping his weapon lowered but paying attention to everything else as well.

"Everything's just hunky-dory, Matt," she said with a casual tone.

Scott didn't know exactly what was wrong, but he knew enough to figure out that there was a problem here. He raised his weapon and Varro did the same. "Wray, back away from the Colonel and the console, now!"

Tarym didn't hesitate a moment. He grabbed Wray by the neck and rested the gun against her head. "I believe you may wish to reconsider your actions… Lt. Scott, was it?"

"Who are you?" Scott demanded, aiming his weapon at Tarym but keeping a safe distance from him.

"It's Tarym, Lieutenant!" Wray shouted at him through Tarym's tight grasp on her throat. "Don't shoot! You'd only hurt the Colonel!"

"Listen to your superior," he said tauntingly as he continued to work at a slower pace with only the one hand.

"Wray, what's he doing?" Scott asked.

She struggled to make sense of Tarym's actions on the console. "I don't know, but he's already tried to sabotage the ship. He could do…" She stopped as he held her throat tighter.

"Let's not make a mistake here," he threatened again. After entering another few commands, he was rewarding with a short beep from the console.

"What was that?" Scott demanded. "What just happened?" He took a small step forward and aimed the weapon as best as he could at Tarym. It was hard for him to keep a level aim as all he saw was the Colonel.

"You need to do something," Varro urged. "He can't be allowed to do anything to hurt the ship." As he spoke he moved around the core and aimed his weapon at Tarym as well.

"Go ahead and shoot," Tarym said.

"No!" Wray shouted back. "You can't kill him!"

"We don't have much choice!" Varro yelled back, steadying his aim.

In the quickest second, Wray screamed at Varro, Tarym let go of Wray and changed his target to Varro, and one shot was fired.

* * *

><p>"Did anyone else just hear that?" Greer asked with concern, leaning his head against the door.<p>

Brody looked up from a crate that he was inspecting. "No," he said, tossing a heavy piece of equipment back into the crate, "and I didn't find anything of use in here either."

"I didn't hear anything," Park said sheepishly.

Greer looked back to the door. "Well, I did, and it sounded like a gunshot."

Both Brody and Park looked at Greer with the same concern he first showed. "What is going on out there right now?" Park asked in worry.

Greer walked up to Brody and shoved a finger in the direction of the door. "Get it open. Now," he said forcefully.

He stood and faced Greer with a hostile expression. "I have tried already. Don't get on me for this. The doors are sealed from a master computer. And I've looked around _everything_ in this room, so unless you want to try and force open the door, I've got nothing," he said firmly, releasing his anger at him. Truthfully, some of that anger was aimed at Rush and the way he dismisses everything, but right now Greer was the only one here to vent at.

"All right then," Greer said with a controlled temper, walking up to the door.

Brody scoffed and held his hands up in desperation. "I didn't mean it literally!"

Ignoring his response, Greer put the palm of his hand against the divot for the window, and the other on the opposite side and with a deep breath began to push as hard as he could. He strained and his veins started to pop out.

"Come on, just give it a rest," Brody said. "We'll get out of here eventually, just wait for someone."

He took a quick second to breathe and continued to resume yanking on the door. There was a short buckling in the metal that reenergized his efforts.

"Listen to him Ronald," Park begged him. "It's not worth it if you hurt yourself."

Ignoring her, he gave a powerful tug, and the next moment the door unlocked and slid open. Panting slightly, he turned around and looked at Brody with a smile. "It's all in the arms," he commented softly.

"Or not," Brody said, pointing at the door panel. It had changed to the regular orange color. "Maybe there's something to be said for relying on others," he commented as he walked straight out of the room.

Greer's smiles subsided slightly, but he didn't react badly to the news at all. Instead he bolted out of the room and took point, motioning for Park to stay behind him.

"We should go for the Control Interface Room," Brody suggested. "If there's a problem we can find out about it there." Greer nodded and he started to walk down the hallway quickly with Brody pushing to stay beside him. They quickly barreled down the corridor. Greer was keeping calm, but planning a contingency for anything that might have happened. When they finally made their way to the Control Interface Room, what he saw was not on his list.

"Oh my God!" Park screamed out as soon as she saw Young on the ground with blood pouring out underneath of him.

Scott was standing at a console and working at something quickly while Varro was standing still at the other end of the room, a gun on the floor in front of him. Wray was holding Young down, keeping pressure on a moist spot of his shoulder, her hands drenched in blood as well. She looked up in panic at Greer. "He needs medical attention, now! Help me move him to the Infirmary!" she screamed urgently at him.

He obeyed immediately, grabbing his upper body while Scott moved over from the console and grabbed his lower body. Varro remained where he was, completely frozen in his spot. Wray tried her best to apply pressure to his wound while he was being moved. Brody quickly made his way to one of the consoles while Park staggered after him.

"What happened here?" Greer asked as they carried him as fast as they could without causing more problems.

"It was Tarym," Wray said. "He used a communication stone to connect with Young. Once here he tried to sabotage the ship. Scott and Varro came just in time and Varro shot him," she added slowly as the continued to walk.

"What?" Greer said without stopping.

"We didn't know what Tarym was doing," Wray started, "and then he pulled his gun on Varro. He just acted in self-defense."

Greer had no chance to retort as they made it to the Infirmary at that moment.

"TJ, we need you here!" Wray shouted as they crossed the threshold.

She was over at Eli's bed when she looked up. Seeing his condition she immediately dropped the piece of equipment she was working with and ran over to Young. "What happened to him?"

"He took a shot to the shoulder from a couple meters away," Wray said quickly, directing Greer and Scott to put him down on a bed. "I'm pretty sure that bullet went through him though."

TJ pushed past Scott and Greer and looked carefully at the wound. "You're right; it looks like it went through him. I'm going to need to stop the bleeding though," she said bringing over a tray of equipment. "He'll be fine," she reassured everyone, turning back to Young.

Calmed, Wray gave some room to TJ and went over to Scott. "Tarym was controlling him via the stones," she said. "We should make sure he's been disconnected so he can't regain control over him."

"Whoa, what are you saying?" Eli said suddenly, sitting up from his bed, getting into the drift of the conversation. He groaned slightly and held onto his side.

Wray turned around to face him and sighed as she took a step towards him. "Tarym managed to gain a communication some time ago and used it to make a connection here when Young tried to link with Earth."

"Wait, oh crap," Eli said, slamming his head into his hands. Scott and Wray looked curiously at him. "We tried to radio Barnes when we got suspicious about the actions in the Control Interface Room, but she never answered. Tarym must have done something to her to make sure he could maintain a connection."

She looked back towards Scott, her look a clear message. He nodded and grabbed his radio. "Corporal Barnes, this is Lt. Scott. Do you copy?" he asked urgently into it.

There was static for a moment, and then an answer came quickly. "Lt. Scott, this is Major Brooks. The communication lab was locked up, but I just got inside. I found her inside and she's unconscious."

"The stones," Wray said to Scott quickly.

He nodded to her. "Major Brooks, the Colonel was taken over by Tarym with a communication stone. Clear his imprint from the stones and disconnect him, now!"

Static remained for another moment. "Done; he's disconnected."

"Good," Wray said. Sighing, she moved back to Eli's bed and leaned on the edge. She glanced at TJ working on Young and shook her head. "Let's clear some room in here," she said slowly. She led the way out of the Infirmary and out into the hall. Scott walked over and helped Eli out as he showed he was still in discomfort. Standing outside in the hall, she leaned against the wall and Eli was propped up against Scott. Greer stayed in the Infirmary, sitting on the chair next to TJ, watching her work. "Did you figure out what Tarym was trying to do?" she asked Scott.

"I'm not too sure," Scott confessed with some embarrassment, "but it looked like he was accessing the communications systems. Maybe he was trying to contact his people; broadcast a signal to tell them where to find us."

"Well I thought they were tracking us with the transmitter in Eli," Wray asked, gesturing at Eli.

"Ah, well," Eli said with what little enthusiasm he could muster, "my days as a radio broadcaster are over. We found a device in the Ancient database that took care of it." As he said this he groaned again and clutched his side. Scott frowned and pointed to his side, asking the question with his gesture. "Oh, the device dissolved the transmitter, but I guess some components were a little too dense for the device, so it left some tiny fragments that are now having a farewell party throughout my internal systems."

Scott sighed and looked with concern back to Wray. "If he did send a message to his people, then their ship could be here at any time."

"About that," Eli interjected quickly, regaining some energy at the prospect of getting some work done, "I think I have an idea that might help. Help me up to the Bridge?" he asked Scott hopefully.

"Yeah, sure," Scott agreed, grabbing him by the shoulder and helping him walk off down the hallway heading to the elevator.

* * *

><p>"Well? What do you think?"Eli asked, leaning in from his chair in the back of the Bridge.<p>

Rush removed his hand from his mouth and rested his elbow on the side of the central chair. "It might work."

"Might?" Eli scoffed. "Um, I can pretty much guarantee to you that it'd work."

"Well that's your guarantee, not mine," Rush countered.

Kalin sat at the communication station at the other end of the room, ignoring the two as they argued against the merit of Eli's idea.

The door to the Bridge slid open noisily and Volker walked on with Brody. Eli turned around to see who had entered and let out a breath of relief. "Thank God. Would you two convince this evil man into believing without a doubt my idea would work?" he begged.

Brody walked up and leaned against the railing, looking with a smirk to Rush and back to Eli. "Sure," he started. "What's your idea?"

"Well, I was thinking…" he started before Brody cut him off.

"He's right, Rush. Listen to his plan," Brody said quickly, turning back to look at Rush with a straight face. The Scotsman let out an exasperated gasp and Volker walked over to the left station while holding back a chuckle.

Smiling, Eli continued. "Seriously now, I was thinking about a way to use their phase shifting defensive tech against them."

Brody was interested now, and he stood up and walked up to Eli. "Okay, what's the plan then?"

"When they phase out of our space-time, their shields are useless, and their entire vessel would be out of our reality," Eli started. "I was thinking that we could rig a Kino to explode by remote command, and once they shift out of our reality, we would place the Kino right in the middle of the ship. There's technically nothing to stop it from doing that. Once they shift back to attack us, the Kino is in the ship and we detonate it. If we could find its power core we could deliver even a bigger hurt to them."

Brody paused for a moment and then turned back to Rush. "This really might work," he concluded.

Rush sighed and shook his head in annoyance. "Yes, of course it might. But Mr. Wallace here has neglected to take several variables into account. We can't detect their ship when it phases out of our space-time, so even if we could have a Kino out there looking for it, there would be no guarantee at all that it would find it, or reach it in time for that matter."

At this moment Kalin quickly turned around and rose from his seat. "Maybe we could," he said with an excited voice.

Surprised, everyone on the Bridge turned to face him. "Well?" Volker asked after a moment.

He walked from the corner of the room to the steps and held against one of the columns. "Back on Talus, I once worked with an esteemed theoretical physicist in exploring a new scanning technique. He was trying to track the motion and attributes of objects based on the ripples of a layer of subspace that intersected with our own. It reacted to all matter in our reality through its gravitional fields and eddies, even matter that we couldn't identify with any conventional means. His research was brilliant and it revealed massive amounts of hidden matter that we never explored before," he relayed with enthusiasm.

"Hang on," Brody said with confusion, "do you mean to say you proved the existence of dark matter _and_you found a way to study it?"

"Dark matter, yes!" Kalin exclaimed. "That was what you called it. I remember it from one of the archives."

Eli scoffed. "Way to go grandkids."

"Anyways, I remember how he created these modifications, and I am confident they would allow us to find the Nati warship even if it phases out," Kalin posited with force.

Now the attention shifted to Rush. He nodded his head slightly. "Intriguing; it might work," he admitted. "And at the very least it would provide _Destiny_ with a new tool to better study the universe."

"And it's back to the mission with you," Eli grumbled.

"It's all about the mission," he retorted.

"Well, right now for me it's about not getting blown apart," he said with determination. He rose and headed out of Bridge. "I'm going to get the Kino ready. Kalin do you need any help with the sensor mods?" he asked calmly.

He shook his head. "No, it's mostly just upgrades to the computer systems. It should take an hour at most."

Eli stopped outside the door to the bridge and looked up. "We've only got about that long," he said noting the countdown clock. "I seriously doubt we can survive another attack." He walked out of the Bridge and Brody walked out with him, helping him walk.

Rush sighed and walked over to the science station. "Let's get started with those modifications then, shall we?" he said.

Kalin moved over to him, but seemed to have lost his initial enthusiasm. He pulled up a chair for himself and sat next to Rush. He thought for a moment and then spoke. "Why are you so negative to him all the time? His ideas are good; I just don't get it," he complained to Rush.

"Of course they are," Rush admitted. "But he can't grow as a scientist if he thinks all his initial ideas are genius. He's got to learn to take the criticism and harshness," he said slowly. After a brief pause he turned to Kalin. "Now, your modifications?"

* * *

><p>"Where are they?" Scott wondered out loud. He was seated at his usual navigation station on the Bridge. Greer was at the right tactical station and Rush was between them, carefully watching the Kino and sensor feed displayed side by side. Kalin and Eli were both in the back at the communication and science station respectively.<p>

"What, are you actually hoping they'll show up?" Eli asked. "If we can get through this time without a firefight, hey I'm all for it."

"Yeah, but who's to say that they won't find us later," Greer countered, agreeing with his friend. "Right now, right here we've got the advantage and we're ready for them. I'd rather get it over with now, if that's alright with you?"

Several beeps sounded throughout the Bridge. "Well I think you're just about to get your chance there," Rush commented. "I'm detecting a hyperspace window opening 20,000 kilometers to port." He paused for a moment as his sensor readings came in. "It's them," he confirmed quickly.

"I'm setting in a course for them," Scott rang in immediately, deftly beginning to execute a set of commands as he spoke.

"Main weapon is ready, and so are the other batteries," Greer stated.

"I'm diverting all remaining power to the shields," Rush commented. "The sensor modifications are online and ready. Let's hope they work," he said glancing back to Kalin.

"They're moving to intercept us," Scott mentioned. "17,000 kilometers… hey wait, I lost them."

Rush chuckled lightly. "The changes are working. I can still see them here. They've moved to 3,000 kilometers off of the starboard bow."

"Changing target," Greer announced. "I see them," he said as soon as the white dot fully materialized on his targeting screen. "Firing."

Loud pulses resonated off of the ship and Rush watched them fly off and slam into the Nati's shields. "Well that ought to give them something to worry about," Rush noted. "They've phased out again, probably to hide and plan their attack. Eli," he said, turning his head, "now's your best chance to get the Kino in place."

"Gotcha," Eli said and quickly turned to his own station. They had deployed the Kino once it was ready an hour ago, and lucky for them they deployed to their starboard. "It's only a few kilometers away from them. It'll just take a minute. It looks like they're holding position while they think."

Everyone say and waited quietly as Eli navigated the Kino. Rush watched his screen. On the one side he saw Kino footage of stars in the background, and on the other he was detected a ship right in front of the Kino. He only hoped the device was so small that the Nati would never detect it.

"Okay," Eli said a few minutes later, "I've placed it roughly where we think the phasing generator is. When they return to our space-time, they'll be in for a treat."

"Speaking of which," Rush started, but stopped once the ship began to rock violently. "They've phased back and opened fire. Eli, do it now!" he yelled.

Eli obeyed immediately and slammed a button on his console. Rush gazed out of the window in front of him and was relieved to see a bright plume of fire erupt and dissipate from the dorsal section of the Nati ship. From his station in the back, Eli laughed loudly. "It worked! Their phase generator is down, and it looks like they've taken internal damage."

Rush looked back down to his station as numerous pings caught his attention. "We'll they're not going to just give up, are they?" he asked out loud. "They've launched fighters; at least twenty."

"I got this," Greer said confidently, aiming the various turrets and beginning to fire them against the myriad of small objects that began to fly off of the enemy ship.

"Don't get cocky, kid," Eli called from the back as he monitored his station.

The ship shook again, first lightly as the fighters fired sporadically from a distance, but then more violently as they began to circle around _Destiny_. Dozens of the small blue pulses came zipping from the fighters and pummeled into her shields. Greer was operating at his controls as quickly as he could, tracking targets rapidly and bringing a few of them to an end.

"This is working," Greer said. "There aren't too many of them out there."

"Just take care of them quickly," Rush warned. "Shields are holding at 70% right now."

A circuit blew above Kalin's head and the ship lurched to the right violently, sending unsecured equipment tumbling to the floor. Collecting himself, Eli started at his console. "It's the warship. They still have their main weapon online," he informed. Turning around he faced Greer. "As long as their firing at us with that, we don't stand a chance."

Greer nodded in acknowledgement. "Got it. Scott, get me an angle on that ship," he demanded.

"I'm on it," Scott responded. The ship slowly answered to his commands and arced to starboard, aiming the bow to the Nati ship. With a clearer view of the ship now, they could see the main weapon spinning up faster and preparing to fire again.

The blinding pulse lashed out from the nose of the warship and pounded into _Destiny_'s midsection, taking out three of their own fighters with the shot. A set of circuits all exploded and sparks poured out of one source continuously, sending dim fleeting shadows against the wall.

Concernedly, Rush read through the output on his screen. "Shields down to 47%, and we lost two of the light turrets." He quickly glanced over to Greer, holding onto his station tightly as the fighters' shots continued to abuse the _Destiny_. "Maybe you can do us a favor and get rid of that ship?"

"Everybody's a critic," Greer mumbled as he keyed in an attack command. Powerful shots launched off of the bow of the ship, making their way quickly to the warship. They sluggishly tried to move out of the way, but only evaded the initial two blasts. The rest of the barrage effectively met their mark and exploded on the warship's shields, leaving the dull orange haze of their shield impacts for a few moments.

"Keep it up," Eli encouraged from his station, rapidly making sense of the sensor data that was pouring into his terminal. "I doubt they can keep up with that can of punishment for too long."

Another explosion sounded in the hallway outside of the Bridge, accompanied with a large ball of fire and heat emanated from a power conduit. Everyone glanced over their shoulders as the cacophonous conflagration distracted them for a moment. "I doubt _we_ can survive this level of punishment!" Scott yelled over the exploding circuitry.

"Almost through their shields!" Rush informed everyone.

The constant stream of orange pulses was delivering a heavy strain on the Nati shields. They glowed a dimmer orange after every blast, and they seemed to cover a smaller radius of the explosion. Scott was adjusting the course of _Destiny_ to match the every motion of the warship, ensuring that Greer would have a clear line of fire.

Another alarm sounded by Greer's station, barely heard over the crackling sparks. "The main weapon is starting to overheat!" he shouted.

"Reduce your attack," Rush commanded him. "If we burn out that battery we'll lose any chance of mounting a solid offense in the future."

Nodding, Greer complied, and the barrage slowed down in quantity, but the warship was already weakened enough that they were doing damage.

A small explosion to the port of the Bridge attracted Rush's attention. A Nati fighter was partially hit by a turret blast, but it was still in one piece. The fighter was hurtling fast towards them, a trial of burning gas illuminating their path.

"Greer, do you see that?" Scott asked quickly, also noting the incoming craft.

"Yeah, I got it," he assured him. Leaving the main weapon to automated firing, he targeted a set of turrets on the fighter and fired with all of them. A flurry of haphazardly fired shots went flying past the fighter, in front of it, beside it, around it. It was picking up speed when one shot finally hit it dead center, breaking it into hundreds of fragments, each sent flying away. Some pieces still collided with _Destiny_, but the damage was minimal compared to what could have been.

"Good shot," Scott commended. The deck rumbled as more fighters zoomed over the Bridge and flew across the length of the ship.

A quick flash from the warship signaled a final victory to Eli.

"That's it!" he alarmed Greer. "Their shields are offline."

"Copy that," he returned calmly. In seeming retaliation, the warship fired another blinding shot from its bow. The shot collided with the bottom of the obelisk section of _Destiny_, right along the crew quarters. A massive quake made its way along the structure of the ship and more panels lit up and exploded. The shields glowed brightly, obscuring the view from the Bridge windows for a brief moment.

"Screw dramatics!" Eli yelled over the numerous exploding circuits. "Just kill the sons of bitches!"

Greer retargeted all of the turrets to fire upon the warship. With the combined brutality of the main weapon and dozens of the lighter batteries, explosions popped up along the entire hull of the warship. The main power core in the center of the dorsal region slowly dimmed and then flickered, as did all of the other lights on the ship. In a last effort to win, the warship shut off the main weapon and activated all of their other turrets, returning the punishment to _Destiny_.

Surprisingly, the core at the center of the ship began to glow significantly brighter, and eventually Rush and the others looked away from the window as they became blinded by the light. A moment later, the light hit its peak, and was accompanied with a resounding explosion. A massive shock wave went driving into _Destiny_'s shields and the ship listed to stern, sending everyone out of their seats and to the floor, sparks and small chunks of debris joining them.

After that, there was silence.

Rush slowly rose from the floor, careful not to get up too quickly around the unstable environment. He walked back to his chair, holding onto his arm that he had landed on. Outside the window, a fading pulse of light filled the space where the once whole warship was. Around _Destiny_, all of the Nati fighters were in an equal state, having been poorly equipped to survive such a powerful energy wave from the warship's destruction.

Scott got up right after him and walked over to help Eli rise who showed extreme pain in his side now. Leaning against the railing, Eli still managed to smile at their triumph.

Rush nodded with satisfaction and slowly turned around. He looked at Eli and continued to nod at him. "You did well, Eli," he commended him. "Your ideas worked." He started to walk out of the Bridge, but stopped at the threshold of the door. He twisted around and glanced at Kalin, who was sitting down in his seat and calming himself down from the events of the last several minutes. "You too," he said before leaving.

* * *

><p>"So, what's the status of the ship?" Young asked. He was sitting upright in the Infirmary bed, uncomfortably holding his left arm in TJ's make-shift sling. His wound was properly dressed and cleaned, and he had no debilitating injuries.<p>

Rush sighed and leaned against another bed. Brody stood next to him with his arms crossed, an unpleasant expression across his face. "Do you want the short version, or the long version?" Brody asked him.

Young seriously thought for a second. "Short."

"It's crap," Brody said.

He turned to look at Rush. "Long version."

"Well, let's just start by me saying it would be very bad for us to engage any more enemies any time soon," he said pessimistically. "Most of the shield emitters have been overtaxed by the last battle and are operating with moderate efficiency. We lost a few weapon platforms as well, which is very unfortunate. There was heavy damage to the infrastructure of the ship as well. Power has needed to be rerouted through dozens of key systems, and some areas have lost life-support. With enough time in the spacesuits we should be able to repair most of the damaged power systems, but we're going to be running on inefficient power transfer to shields and weapons for a while." He paused for a moment and his expression perked up slightly. "On the bright side, there was virtually no damage to the F.T.L. damage during the attack or the premature drop out, so we don't need to worry about being stuck anywhere. We've gone back into F.T.L. a few hours ago on course for a star to refuel, so that should help out our situation as well."

Young nodded understandingly at the two scientists. "Okay, so, we've got our work cut out for us," he concluded.

"Yeah," Brody agreed gloomily. "I should probably go get started." He started to walk out of the Infirmary.

"No, take a little bit of time to relax," Young countered. "It's been a tough couple of days. You need a break."

He stopped and looked puzzled at Young but nodded and casually strolled out of the Infirmary, making up his mind to return to the cargo hold and fix his still.

Young sat up a little higher and gazed to the back of the Infirmary. TJ was asleep at her desk; she had had a very rough last few hours. In the back near her there were three body bags; closed. "Who?" he asked quietly to Rush, pointing his head to the bags.

"Rush took in a breath and turned to look at them as well, a hint of sadness across his face. "Dr. Kennair, Corporal Lipton, and Airman Pearson," he said as quietly as Young asked. "They were all moving to a safety zone when a plasma conduit exploded in the hallway. A few others were injured during the attack as well, but none worse than a broken bone, other than you of course," he amended, noting the sling.

"We should schedule a memorial service when we reach the star; give them a decent farewell," he returned grimly. He sighed and looked over at TJ again. "Where's Varro?"

"He's placed himself in the holding room, and he asked for Greer to guard him," Rush said. Young turned to look curiously at him. "To him it's a matter of principle," Rush tried to explain. "You brought him onto this crew, and he believes his action was one of direct insubordination. He figured he need to be punished and locked himself up, awaiting your verdict. Or that's his side of the story anyways."

Young shook his head and looked away. He thought for a moment and then turned back to Rush. "Would you call him down here?" he asked him.

He hesitated for a moment, but nodded to the Colonel. He grabbed his radio off of the desk behind him. "Sgt. Greet, would you bring Varro down to the Infirmary please?"

"Excuse me?" he replied shortly.

"The Colonel would like to speak with him," Rush explained, trying to subdue his aggravation. "If you could bring him down, please?"

"Understood," Greer answered. Rush let out a short breath and put the radio back down. He stared up at the ceiling at one of the flickering lights. Power fluctuations were still messing up with many of the systems for now.

"What are you thinking about?" Young asked him after watching him stare for a moment.

He sighed sadly and continued to watch the flickering light. "About us, _Destiny_, our impact on it," he said. Young watched him inquisitively the whole time, and Rush finally looked down at the Colonel. "Every since we've arrived, we've kept this ship together, and we've been the factor that's nearly torn it apart. I know we're supposed to be here, but I can't help wondering, where _Destiny_ would be if we never came along. Would she have ever met the drones if we didn't go off of the course? Would we have needed to skip across half a galaxy just to survive?" He stopped to think and scoffed. "Well, Novus would never have existed either. Who's to know how that could have changed events? All I do know is that we are as much a salvation as we are a curse to this ship, and I just want that to stop."

Greer quickly walked into the Infirmary with Varro right behind him. When Varro saw Colonel Young, his expression grew downcast and he stopped at the doorway. Nodding, Rush stood and walked out of the room, acknowledging Greer and Varro as he left.

"Would you give us a minute, Sergeant?" Young asked Greer. He stayed still for a brief second and then twisted around and walked out, guarding the Infirmary entryway out of earshot. Young glanced once more at TJ, convinced that she was asleep. "Come over here," he asked Varro quietly, turning to face him.

Varro waited as well, clenching his fists tightly and swallowing hard, and then he quickly stepped up to Young's bed. "I recognize the faults of my actions," he said before Young could open his mouth. "I will accept any punishment."

Young fiddled lightly with his sling and looked intently at Varro. "Why would I punish an officer for following my orders?" he asked suddenly.

Varro blinded rapidly, taken aback by Young's statement. "What?"

He sighed and sat straight again, leaving his sling alone. "When we dropped out of F.T.L., the failsafe that kicked in because of Tarym's actions, I spoke to Wray," he said.

"Yes, she said you came back for a moment, but that she learned nothing new from it," Varro returned.

"I told her," Young interjected firmly, "to do anything necessary to protect his ship and the crew, including shooting me if Tarym did anything."

Varro stood still again, and took in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and nodded his head in sincere understanding.

"Granted, the stones reconnected while I was talking with her, but she was listening to me," Young affirmed. "She knew exactly what I wanted to say."

"She defended you. She told me not to fire."

Young nodded again, smiling slightly at Varro. "Well I'm glad you did. Don't lock yourself up with any remorse; we need you here with us."

Varro looked appreciatively at Young. "Thank you, Colonel, for all you've done for me, and this crew," he said.

"Greer," Young said, not knowing how he could add anything to this discussion. He waited until the Sergeant was in the Infirmary at Varro's side. "He's free from holding." He gestured to Varro that he was dismissed. Smiling again, he slowly turned and walked out, glancing at TJ with a warm look as he did. Once Varro left Young looked up at Greer. "Tell Lt. Scott to try and connect with Earth. I've had enough mishaps with the stones as it is; let him have the next major problem," he complained as he reclined in his bed and lower down.

He chuckled and gave a short salute. "Yes, sir." Greer turned around and walked out of the room. He stopped as well and looked at the bodies and humbly crossed himself as he left.

Young let out a long, deep breath, releasing all his troubles and stresses with the one exhale. As he moved himself down on the bed, his attention was constantly fixated on the three bags at the end of the room. Slowly falling asleep as a result of the pain medication TJ had him on with an IV drip, he grew despondent as he gazed at the bags and saw the faces of the people that he had lost under his command.

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. I secret plan on Earth to help <em>Destiny_ has fallen into the wrong hands. With allies across enemy lines and unwilling to help, the crew must uncover the plot and plan a mission on their own._


	8. Control

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_To start I must thank you for being so patient with me. I really can't believe that this took me so long to finish, but I got a break from most of my other obligations and worked really hard to get this all done. Again, thank you for reading this story and continuing to read it. It's so much fun writing this story, and the reviews are just really making me so happy! Thank you, all of you, for reading and giving me the desire to keep on writing for something that we all love._

_Quick shoutout. Thanks to StarEcho for pointing out military protocol. That really helped me and I have tried to make sure I fixed that for this story. Really big help! Malfoystinksstinks, well, your questions are always in the right place, and you should like this episode. SacredClay and AlexanderD and Who Are You What Do You Want, thank you for staying along with me! And thanks to all the other reviewers I didn't mention and especially a big thanks to all the readers! I'm very repetitive in my thanks..._

_Okay, Episode eight, this is one episode that people have probably been waiting a long time for; I finally start to answer questions! For that specific reason, it's somewhat heavy on the talking, but I hope you can bear with me on that. I blended action, emotion, and development, so I can only hope they came together perfectly! I should mention that I started writing this episode around the New Year, and I just picked it up about a week ago. For this reason I kept the winter setting, so forgive me if it's not consistent with what it's like today. Anyways, I really just hope you guys love this, because I'm writing for you. And please please please please review! Your feedback, ideas, critiques, predictions all really help me figure out the story, and if you catch any inconsistencies, please let me know. Sometimes I forget what I've already written. :(_

_Once again, I've got no particular schedule. I hope to find more free time some how to write. Just keep up with me please, and as always, thanks you guys!_

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episodes , "Heretics", "Temple", and "Prey". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>308: Control<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_So, what's the status of the ship? _

_It's crap._

_Okay, so, we've got our work cut out for us._

_There are many things that you don't understand about Destiny, it's history, and future. I'll make sure, that in time, you do._

_What's going on? What has been happening with everything? I need answers, Mandy!_

_I can't give them to you, not yet. Everything must be allowed to happen exactly as it should, and if I tell you, then you might try to change something. I have to make sure you don't do anything that would interfere with the mission. _

_The project has hit an impasse for them, just as we had hoped would happen. But, you've been compromised. They are aware that we've placed you here, and are attempting everything to bring you back. Our own scientists are currently adapting your intelligence, but it's very complicated and taking time._

_We knew it would be. But as long as we're first…_

_As long as we're first, we will have nothing to worry about._

_Things… haven't gone well in our little corner of the universe in the last few years. The Lucian Alliance has stepped up their game and has taken to direct attacks on our off world bases. We have allies within the Jaffa ranks so it's not too terrible, but it's cost us a lot of resources and curbed our own priorities._

_Why are you really here?_

_That's not for you to know. Just take what the IOA said and walk with it Colonel._

_For now._

* * *

><p>"Alright, looks like it's finished the job. Let's give it a try," Brody said into his radio, peering into the long hallway through the window in the door as one of the repair robots finished its work on a damaged conduit. Its various hydraulic arms whirred busily across the surface of the conduit, sealing the cover to the system as it had completed its assigned task.<p>

"Understood," Rush responded from the Bridge. "I'm opening the release valves for the conduit. I going to start it off at ten percent for safety."

For the last few days, everyone had been extremely busy repairing all of the extensive damage the ship received during the last encounter. They had been across almost every square foot of the ship replacing and cannablizing equipment, but the work was slowing down now as the ship started returning to life. Currently, Brody was using the repair robot to fix a damaged power conduit in a sector without life support. He figured that the robot would be more effective than him in a clunky space suit.

On the remote, Brody entered in a command sequence for the robot to move away from the conduit. Looking back up through the small window, he saw the robot obediently take a few grinding steps back.

"How's it going here?" Volker asked as he made his way down the corridor to join Brody. He walked up right next to Brody and tried to look through the window to see what was going on. "Hmmm, seems to be doing well in there," he noted.

"Yeah, Rush is about to fire up the systems and test the stability of the conduit," Brody returned.

"Power is at ten percent now," Rush updated over the radio. "Everything looks stable. I'm going to raise it to thirty and bring on life-support and artificial gravity."

Brody and Volker both watched through the window as best as they could. The lights at the threshold of the door began to flicker to life and they could see the robot clearly now. More of the lights along the ceiling began to come on, flooding the corridor with light and moving off down the entire length of the hall, revealing it to be incredibly long.

"Gravity is reestablished, but it's taking time to pressurize such a large volume of space," Rush reported again. At that moment they could hear a loud beep from over the radio, signaling that some alarm was going off on the Bridge. "What the…" Rush said as the lights in the enclosed space briefly sputtered. A large jolt of electricity surged from the conduit and struck the robot across its front, pushing it over to the opposing wall. The instability was over quickly and the lights stabilized.

Having ducked down below the window, Brody stood back up and yelled into his radio. "What just happened?"

There was a brief pause, during which Brody visualized Rush poring over any sensor data that was probably zipping across the screens in front of him. "It appears there was a charged particular fragment in the power conduit. There was a surge when the power reached a certain level which led to an electrostatic discharge," he said, taking another moment to pause. "I'm not seeing damage on any of the systems. We should be okay."

Brody scoffed at their good fortune. "Finally, something is going at least half-way right for us." He entered in a return command for the robot, but the remote gave him an annoying beep in response. Frowning, he reentered the command.

"What is it?" Volker asked, noticing his problem.

"It's not accepting my commands," he answered. Lowering the remote, he looked back up and through the window to see the robot sputter for a moment, and then begin to move away down the long hallway. "Oh, crap."

Volker pushed Brody aside and peered through the small window as well to see what Brody was talking about. "Why is it doing that?"

"The discharge must've damaged its internal systems," Brody hypothesized. He sighed and watched in agitation as the robot continued to walk to the halls. "It doesn't seem to respond to our commands."

Volker shared in Brody's exasperation. "You had to open you mouth," he said, hanging his head in exhaustion. "Guess we get to go after it."

* * *

><p>"I've already told you," TJ said resolutely, knowing full well that her words were having no effect. "If you want to recover, you need to stay under my observation for <em>at least<em> another two days." She firmly held Young to his bed as he tried to stand.

"Fine, then you can tell that to Telford when he gets here," Young returned tiredly. "I don't care much if he gets a room _without_ a view." He ignored her commands to return to the bed and stood up.

She sighed and retreated back, surrendering to his will. "COs will always be a doctor's worst nightmare," she complained lightly. "Okay, you can go, just let me take one more blood sample; just to be sure there is no infection in the blood." She stared pleadingly at him for a moment, until he unwillingly nodded his head. Happy with a marginal victory, she walked over to the other side of the infirmary to get the needle.

Young patiently sat back on the bed and fiddled with his sling once more. He looked up from the sling when he heard some footsteps approaching from the door to the infirmary. A very tired and annoyed Rush sauntered in, looking around from Young to TJ. Suppressing a yawn, he blinked his eyes a few times and walked straight up to the Colonel. "How are you feeling?" he started slowly, saying something first before they began the serious discussion.

Young nodded his head lightly in response. "Healing; that's what counts," he returned, indicating at his sling once more. "Should get this thing off soon enough." Looking back up at Rush, he raised his eyes and gestured to the scientist. "What about you?"

"Tired," he replied shortly.

"I hear there's a lot of that going around," Young noted.

Rush merely shrugged. "Most of the crew is in their quarters right now, catching up on sleep, I imagine," he said almost in disbelief, wondering how people could sleep so often when there was always something to be done. "The dome was fully repaired last time we were in normal space, and Dr. Park has a group of volunteers in there now starting to ready the soil."

He said nothing else, but just sat down on the bed across from Young and crossed his arms. Rush really just wanted to get along with the real conversation, but didn't feel like pushing the Colonel into talking.

Catching on to his intent, Young switched gears mentally and sat up a little straighter. "So what's the status on repairs?" he asked. The Colonel glanced over to his right as TJ walked up to him with a needle. She nodded a hello to Rush and then proceeded to roll up Young's left sleeve.

"Well, we've finished up all of the major repairs," Rush began, staring intently at Young's face as TJ worked on his arm. "A large portion of the power reserves were lost through the damaged power conduits, but they've been sealed. We should be able to replenish them the next time we refuel. There are a few weapon platforms that are still giving us problems, but they should be back on-line in several days. However, there was a minor problem that occurred," Rush said with a hint of frustration. "One of the repair robots was damaged during a plasma discharge and we've lost control over it. The section it's in is currently being pressurized, and after it's done we'll begin efforts to retrieve it."

"Do you know where it is?" Young asked, overall happy that there were no more serious problems for him to have to deal with right now.

He sighed in response and sat more comfortably on the bed. "That's part of the problem. The discharge seems to have completely severed our connection to the robot. Its primary directive is still in place, but without any direct line of command it is just wandering around. Unfortunately, it is locked in a large space, so it won't be very easy to track down, but the sooner the better; if it took serious damage to its subroutines it might begin to cause more harm in the area."

Nodding in acknowledgment, he glanced at his arm and moved onto a related topic. "What do you think the odds are that we've seen the last of them?" he asked.

Rush let out a breath as he thought about it. "I'd like to say pretty good," he admitted. "We assumed that Tarym was on that ship based on the fact that the stone never connected to him again, and if that's true it'll mean their leadership would be even more compromised than before he attacked us. As for their ships, they have all regrouped in a single star system, but it is several hundred light years away. I doubt they would plan any kind of attack on us. And, we'll be leaving their outer planets in another month, so I sincerely doubt any more attacks."

TJ finished her work and walked off with the blood sample. Once he was satisfied that she was done with everything, Young made his way out quickly.

"Well," he started to Rush as he rose and walked to the door, cutting him off from his speech, "Just keep your eye on their fleet movements, and do what you think is right to get the robot out. I'll trust you to figure out anything. You'll fully capable of managing that, aren't you?" he questioned mockingly, turning around and walking out of the Infirmary, leaving a very tired Scotsman shaking his head in irritation.

A minute later, Colonel Young walked into the Communication Room and sat down at one of the available seats next to Eli; they were both scheduled to visit Earth today.

"Colonel," he said groggily, looking up from the palms of his hand he had been resting on. All of the scientists and engineers had been exhausted after that last engagement. It was a common pattern to see them like this after any large battle, as they were always the ones left to pick up the pieces and figure out how to put them back where they belong.

"Glad you're going home, are you?" he asked the boy.

"Oh," he scoffed, looking up again with a small smile, "as long as the place I'm going to doesn't have anything to do with... optical targeting arrays... or solar-based fusion plasma converters... or lights that like to flicker, I'm gonna be happy."

Young smirked at his and turned to look at Corporal Barnes.

"How's the head, Corporal?" he asked out of sincere concern, and partial guilt.

She nodded in answer to him. "It's fine, sir," she said calmly. "And yourself?"

"Healing well," he said grabbing a stone and slapping it on the terminal, next to Eli's. "Just tell Colonel Telford not to play rough."

With that, she nodded quickly, maintaining her professional expression, and activated the stones.

* * *

><p>With a brief tingling feeling and a whine in the ears, Young found himself in Homeworld Defense. He glanced over to the monitor conveniently placed to his side and confirmed that he had successfully switched with Telford. Looking down at his hands, he stretched both of them in front of his body, relieved at the mobility he had missed.<p>

"Sir?" he heard a voice to his side and looked over to his right. He saw Dr. McKay sitting straight up in his seat.

"Yes, it's me, Eli," Young said, smirking slightly at the choice of bodies to switch out with. He knew it was going to be a scientist, but no one told him who for sure.

"I think I just found another reason I'm happy I'm not on _Destiny_ anymore," Eli joked, staring at the computer monitor as well.

Standing from his seat, he walked up to the confused looking Airman at the door. "Colonel Young and Eli Wallace for General O'Neill, please," he said. The Airman nodded and unlocked the door leading them through the Pentagon hallways. Turning his head to look at Eli, he continued his conversation. "I thought you and Dr. McKay got along pretty well?"

"Yeah, we did, but he pissed everyone else off," he remarked. "They ought to have a nice, fun time with him."

They passed the rest of the time in silence as they quickly marched down the halls, straight into the meeting room, which was currently occupied and full of hurried movements. The General was standing promptly in front of a large display monitor intently watching the video feed from what appeared to be a Daedalus-class bridge camera.

"What's their status, Colonel?" he asked intently, his question clearly directed to Colonel Carter who appeared in the camera view, operating a terminal on her ship.

"Sir, the 302s have managed to disable all of their Glider and Alkesh support. We've knocked out the mothership's propulsion systems," Carter answered quickly, glancing from her counterpart monitor to the battle outside her ship often. "We've taken only minimal damage, but the _Aristotle_ has lost life support. I've brought most of their crew aboard, and they've set a course for a habitable friendly world to set down on and make repairs."

"Colonel, their power levels are rising!" an officer on the _General Hammond_ announced. Carter turned to look at him and briefly left the focus of the camera.

"General?" Colonel Young asked, making his presence known. "It's Colonel Young, sir," he specified to answer the most plausible question in the General's mind.

O'Neill snapped to look at him and figured he had a quick moment. "Colonel Carter is heading a battle group to intercept a Lucian Alliance convey carrying supplies to one of their outposts." As Carter appeared in the frame again, he forgot about Young and looked back on the screen. "What's the problem, Carter?"

"Some of their weapons are still active," she started. As if to prove a point, the video feed flickered momentarily and a shield impact could be heard through the feed. Carter gave up standing in front of the camera and paced around her bridge shouting orders. "Target their weapons only! We want to board that ship if possible. Recall the 302s; they're no use in this fight." The feed flickered again and Young could see sparks flying on the bridge coupled with warning alarms coming from half of the stations.

"Sir, I'm reading a build-up of energy in their core. It's going critical," the same officer said, a sense of panic lining his overall calm voice.

"Dammit," she swore, upset at the loss of an opportunity. "Back us away, full sublight!" She seemed to forget about the camera and sat in her chair, gripping the arms firmly as the ship veered away swiftly. Although the frame was limited, it was clear to the onlookers that the opposing ship did not stay in one piece as a flash of light illuminated the bridge and a moment later rocked the craft.

Young felt displaced as an observer of this battle. As of late he had become so accustomed to watching and feeling the battle, experiencing the explosions and the quakes of the bulkheads firsthand. This experience of merely watching it, of being disconnected, troubled him somewhat. Inside he was waiting for the floor to shake, for a heat wave to pass over him as a nearby console exploded. But he felt nothing. He refused to let his discomfort show, and just stood at the entrance to the room, making sure he wasn't in anyone's way; Eli was doing the same.

The screen lost focus and the feed died out after a second. Static filled the line that had previously been producing loud sounds of chaos.

"Carter!" O'Neill asked loudly, concern filling his voice at the loss of the connection. "Colonel Carter, do you read?"

"…y that, General," Carter answered a moment later, her voice barely coming through between moments of crackling static. Relief could be seen on the faces of O'Neill and every other officer in the room. "Our subs… mitter has ta… eavy dam… Visuals are do… ut we have aud…" The rest of the message was beyond comprehension.

"Colonel, we do _not_ receive," O'Neill informed forcefully. "Repeat, we do _not _receive your message."

"General, yo… aking up," her crackling voice came through. What sounded like the urgent voices of the rest of her crew popped into the background of the line, making it even harded to understand. "The miss… ot succeed. The shi… estructed wi… cargo onboa… are follow… _istotle_ to make repa… contact you wh… ave been made… arter out." Static replaced the entire feed now.

Sighing, O'Neill motioned to one of the officers to cut off the line. The static filled screen was replaced with the Homeworld Defense insignia and the room went silent as the audio was turned off. He turned to look at Young, noticing him after his last comment to him. Observing the concerned look on the Colonel's face, O'Neill walked over to his office, beckoning Young to follow. "Experience tells me that a message, no matter how terribly crappy in quality, is always a good sign. Now, shall we talk?" he said, strolling casually into his office as the officers in the situation room all calmed down in their operations.

Young did not hesitate to follow his superior officer.

"Um, I probably have no reason to follow you in there," Eli said, indicating his way to the door out of the situation room. "Besides, I should get off to my escort." He quickly nodded and bolted out of the room. Young had almost forgotten why Eli joined him on this trip. He was supposed to meet his mother for the first time since they woke up from stasis, and he was even more excited by the fact it was coinciding with her preparations for the New Year.

He must have still been smiling on the occasion, because the General picked up on it immediately. "Something joyful in your noggin?" he chirped.

"General?" Young asked first, a little surprised. Understanding what he meant, he nodded and took a seat. "I'm just reflecting on the holiday season. On _Destiny_ we really don't keep that much track of what day or season it is. It's different out there." He let out a small sigh and zoned out temporarily, thinking about what was happening back on that ship.

"Well," O'Neill started, recapturing his attention, "once we've finished our quick chat here, you're more than free to go the way of the Eli."

Regaining his focus on the task at hand, he fidgeted quickly in the seat. "Our situation is not too bad. We did suffer extensive damage, but it has been mostly repaired, and according to Rush all key systems will operate at normal parameters once we recharge. On the other hand, Dr. Rush also recommends that we avoid all contact with hostile forces, but there are a few things that are beyond my control, unfortunately," he said tiredly, slightly annoyed at being the nth messenger of this news. Instead, he indicated he was done by sitting up straight and staring at General O'Neill quietly.

"Sounds like it's going a little better for you guys out there then," he said, leaning back and relaxing, looking out into the situation room and staring at the screen. "Especially after what you just saw."

"If I may, sir, how bad is it?" Young asked, taking on the opposite pose of the General. He kept sitting straight and folded his hands on the edge of O'Neill's desk. He felt anticipation for the news, worried to hear of the possible losses.

"Well that engagement turned out terribly, which isn't the way it was supposed to go down," O'Neill started, showing his frustration at the failure. "Two Daedalus-class battle cruisers, with the works, and full 302 compliments against one Goa'uld Mothership and two Alkesh escorts. It shouldn't have even been a fight, just an easy victory on our part. But I guess it just wasn't our day. The _Aristotle _had just been repaired last week from a previous engagement, and some bone-head engineer didn't put all the right pieces together." Young took that comment to heart as he was thinking about the repairs on his own ship. He knew how frustrating that situation could be. "It suffered from mechanical failures as soon as the first shot hit their shields," he grumbled, sitting forward and resting his face in his palms. This battle clearly was not the first one that had gone wrong for him. Drawing his hands through his short, gray hair, he sat back up. "Least we won it in the end. As long as we didn't take too heavy losses, it'll be alright. But that was just the one engagement. There're dozens more out there, some that we handle, and other the Jaffa take and don't tell me about."

He listened intently, and responded in a quiet, tempered voice. "I didn't realize it had reached that level."

O'Neill just shrugged it off. "Hey, I've got my problems; you've got your problems. Now you've heard me talk about mine. We're even I guess," he said, perking up his attitude. Leaning in from his chair he dropped any attempt to be professional. "So, got somewhere nice to go to?"

He hadn't considered any holiday plans here on Earth. For him, just being here was holiday enough. "Not as of yet, sir," he answered. "I was just going to look around town, get some fresh air."

"Spur of the moment kind of thing?"

"Yes, sir," Young replied, feeling a little put off by this cordial conversation.

"Well you know, Colonel," O'Neill started sincerely, "I've got this _beautiful _lake side property and the fish are just to _die_ for. And right now is the perfect time for some ice fishing." He spoke enthusiastically and gestured passionately to emphasize the size of the fish and the lake.

Young smiled awkwardly at the General. "Thank you for the offer, but, uh, I was hoping to spend some time alone." O'Neill just shrugged, his body language telling him 'your loss'. Young was genuinely tired, and he made sure the General could recognize it.

Seeing how the Colonel was feeling, O'Neill ended the talk. "Well, your driver is waiting for you in the lobby. Just tell him which way to go," he said, rising to dismiss Young. He rose as well and saluted at the General, walking out of his office. "But, don't have too much fun with that," he called after him, drawing Young's confused attention. "Gas is expensive."

Smirking, the Colonel nodded and walked out of the office.

* * *

><p>"Come on, there's nothing wrong with this fix!" Brody shouted in exasperation, rolling up his shirt sleeves as he felt sweat drip down his arms. The environmental systems had gone haywire in the sector where the robot went missing, and he left after a few minutes in there. Now, he was in a heated debate on how to fix the system.<p>

"Sure there's nothing wrong with it, if your intent is to roast everyone to a crisp!" the Canadian scientist retorted. McKay shoved Brody away from the console, and after a quick second of reviewing the terminal, activated the holographic display, showing a layout of the primary systems. A small sector was glowing dark red which made nearby pipe lines blink a bright red. "You're treating this like it's an environmental sensor glitch, even though the issue is clearly in the thermal actuators. Power flow in that entire sector is still disrupted after that power surge. So we need to take care of the power first before we tackle anything with the environmental systems," he spat out quickly, barely giving Brody enough time to understand his words.

"Which brings us back to our initial problem," Rush said from his seat at the other end of the Control Interface Room. He had been quietly watching and listening as Brody presented ideas, only to have McKay shoot them down. In reality, his mind had been wandering, and he was debating ideas of his own about the override and Amanda's recent reappearance in _Destiny_'s systems. Knocked back to reality, he joined the conversation. Brody turned away from McKay and turned to look patiently at Rush. After dealing with McKay, he relished a chance to talk with someone else. "The power transfer systems are damaged and need to be repaired first; true. But those systems are volatile and if we try to manually adjust them, we'll be putting ourselves in danger. That's why we need to retrieve the robot first: it can safely repair the system."

"Thank you!" Brody said enthusiastically, throwing his hands into the air, glad to hear him agreeing with his opinion. "Now, you're right the fix would probably be unstable, so let's just take that system offline and get the robot quickly. We'll use the space suits instead and just forgot of the environmental systems," he said, turning to McKay.

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait wait wait," he stammered, pointing a finger in the general direction of the robot's location on the display and wearing an incredulous face. "You expect me to go out and search for some robot you lost? I didn't come here to do your menial labor; I came to help with your repairs."

"Never crossed your mind what that might entail?" snapped Brody, pounding his way right up to the scientist. "Think of it this way; the more people we have searching for it, the quicker we will find it based on a simple factor of more ground covered. That means you can get back to your safe computer sooner," he offered with a tilt of his head.

McKay hesitantly nodded his head. Still, he didn't like this deal. "Well, can't you get that other guy... um, Mulder, er, whatever the hell his name is?" he struggled.

"_Volker_," Brody said in frustration, crossing his arms. "And no, we can't because he is repairing the last shield emitter with Kalin."

Rush shook his head in desperation as McKay still struggled to figure out an excuse to get out of the work.

"Let's just go, doctor," Brody said, indicating the doorway out of the room, effectively telling McKay he was done with his excuses. Tapping nervously against the console, McKay quickly nodded his head and reluctantly walked out of the room. He turned to raise another point, but Brody raised a hand immediately, telling him to be silent. McKay kept his protest to himself and walked straight out. "And I thought you were an ass," Brody said to Rush as he walked out after the other scientist, shaking his head, annoyed at the prospect of spending the rest of the day with him.

Left alone, Rush slowly straightened up and gathered his thoughts. He rose and turned to leave the room, but was stopped by the fact that Amanda had materialized in front of him.

"What are you planning now, Nick?" she asked with a careful tone in her voice. She looked lonely and concerned as she spoke to him, wanting badly to speak with him, but limited in what she could discuss.

He stood still, looked at her straight on. He was tired of this game she was playing with him. "You're in my head now too?" he asked accusingly.

She shook her head in disappointment, and bite down on her lower lip. She looked as if she wanted to cry, but in this form this was now impossible for her. "Oh, Nick. You just won't understand, will you?" she pleaded, taking a step toward him, reaching a hand out to him. In response he took a step back. She stopped, and held her hand where it was. After a difficult moment for her, she retracted her hand and stood still and firm, looking seriously at him. "Why do you keep fighting everything that I'm trying to do?"

"Because I don't know what the end result is going to be if I let you go through with, whatever it is that you are planning," Rush scolded. "How do I even know if you're really Mandy, or just some corrupt AI? Last we knew, you were kept in quarantine. How did you even escape?"

His words were hurting her, but she just stood still and took it. She sighed and looked at him in the eye. "I've been accommodating to you, but you just won't listen to me, will you Nick? I don't want to hurt you or anyone else, but this mission, this ship is about more than you can know. I _need_ you to be safe, and to not interfere with anything I do, just for a little longer, and then, I promise I will explain everything. Please?" she begged him.

He stared at her, his mouth open slightly in confusion. In resistance, he replied, "And if not?"

"I'll stop you," she said, vanishing from sight, but not before Rush saw her close her eyes and lose control of her emotions.

* * *

><p>"Any place in mind, sir?" the airman asked Young as he pulled out of the Pentagon's parking lot and proceeded onto the main road.<p>

"Out of the city, somewhere open," Young asked, relaxing in the back seat, not paying any heavy attention to the driver.

The airman nodded and immediately drove off through some crowded lanes, first heading to the city. "I know a good place," he answered. They drove in silence for a while. Young didn't feel like speaking, and the airman was too nervous to ask any questions, even though he was internally amazed to be speaking to someone who was really on the other end of the universe. He was a young officer, and had only been involved with the Stargate Program for a year as a stone operator. The Colonel watched the scenes pass by as they moved through the city. The sidewalks were lightly dusted with snow and he saw so many people walking past in thick clothes and layers. They passed all kinds of scenes; some people just walking with friends; others decorating for the holidays; some were gathered around a small table drinking hot beverages. All scenes he hadn't seen in years, but never quite forgot.

The radio going off brought Young back to attention. "All available units, this is Hotel Delta. We need an intercept of a package at Safe House Bravo. Any nearby units respond, over."

The driver looked puzzled as he stopped at a red light and pulled the radio to his mouth. "Copy that Hotel Delta. this is unit Sierra Oscar four. I'm two minutes out from Safe House Bravo. Any details on the package, over?" he asked.

"Negative Sierra Oscar four. You'll have to find that out yourself. Report back when you have secured the package, over."

"Understood Hotel Delta. Sierra Oscar four out," he said, replacing the radio in the slot on the dashboard. He looked in the mirror to talk to the Colonel. "I'm sorry, sir. I have to make a quick detour. I'll get you to your destination soon enough."

"It's alright, airman," Young said, not in a rush to get anywhere really. He hadn't even decided what to do when he got to his destination. He just felt the need to be taken somewhere. When the light turned green, the driver proceeded to turn left, and as he predicted, he reached his destination in under two minutes. It was a modern-day motel, but it read closed and was entirely empty. He pulled into it and parked close to the entrance.

Young didn't see any security officers waiting at the door, and he couldn't see any movement at all. "Should we have been expecting a welcome party, airman?" he asked, feeling something was not right.

"Yes, sir," he answered slowly. He grabbed his radio quickly and spoke, trying not to show his concern. "Hotel Delta, this is Sierra Oscar four. Can I get a confirmation the package is at Safe House Bravo, over?" Once he let go of the radio, a high-pitched static filled the speaker, garbled speech pouring out of it. "Hotel Delta, I do not copy. Say again, over." There was no change. The airman was about to swear when a bright blue jolt of electricity broke through his driver seat window and electrocuted him. He convulsed violently and stuttered as the bolt slowly dissipated over his body, the electricity streaming out to his extremities.

Young immediately reacted, opening the door and grabbing the emergency pistol kept under the passenger seat. He jumped out and ran around to the back of the car, getting a vantage point to see the left side, ignoring the fact that it was very cold and he was dressed in thin black drab. He kept his breathing calm and controlled, and didn't expose himself beyond what he needed to see. However, he felt a little clumsy; Telford's body was responding to his commands too fast. It worried him, but he put that aside in his mind for now and focused on his assailant.

What he did see was what surprised him. Based on the situation, he had expected to find a dozen armed Lucian Alliance soldiers ready to ambush and take him prisoner. Instead, he found one man holding a Zat gun aimed to him. The man looked middle-aged and had a graying beard, wearing dark, non-descript clothes. Confident that the man did not pose serious danger, he quickly surveyed the rest of the area, looking for concealed snipers or soldiers, but could not find any. Either there were none, or they were hidden very well. Could they be cloaked? All of these thoughts were passing through his mind quickly as he analyzed the situation, figuring out the best way to proceed.

Finally, he reasoned that this man didn't want to kill him. You don't bring a Zat to kill someone; at least not right away. But nonetheless, something still didn't seem right about this whole thing, and to make it worse, Young felt like he knew who he was. Deciding that meant he could maybe barter his way out, he inched forward to get a clearer view and spoke. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?"

The man didn't move much or try to shoot. He merely stood there and opened his mouth in mock shock. "Really, you don't know me? I would've thought all those chats with General O'Neill… well, he must've mentioned me at some point. Doesn't matter. I know you, Colonel Young," the man said.

This was getting worse by the minute. What he had just said confirmed that he was in the Stargate program, or at least had knowledge about daily events. How else could he know about the stones, or the fact Young had switched with Telford only a half hour ago? He really did not like where this was going. Young was contemplating shooting first and asking later, but the man spoke again before he had the chance.

"I must say, I'm hurt, but not too surprised," he admitted. With a sigh, he lowered his weapon. "Colonel Maybourne, retired." He said the last word sarcastically.

Young furrowed his brow and took a step forward, slightly dipping his gun down, but not entirely losing focus. He immediately remembered him, his file, and the briefing he had once had about him a few years before the Icarus Project. He had thought that once he remembered who this man was he would feel better about the situation. He was wrong, recollecting all the problems that this man had caused to the program in its founding years, Young only had a more dire gut feeling. "I thought you were on another planet," he said, not showing him any shock, just sticking to the details. "What are you doing here on Earth?"

"I'm here to help you Colonel, believe it or not," he said in his defense. "You haven't been told the entire truth about a lot of things that have been happening here since you went to sleep. We're all in danger, and worst of all, the bad guys are calling all the shots." His voice was sincere, and Young suddenly was under the feeling that he wasn't in any immediate danger, which only made him more nervous.

Regardless, he was curious where this was going, and he dropped his weapon's aim a little more and eased up his stance. "Why me? Why didn't you speak to Telford, or General O'Neill?"

"Because, Telford would've arrested me and tossed me in some prison that doesn't exist, and Jack, well… I'm sure he'd love to send me back offworld, or worse."

"Which begs the question, what are you doing here?" Young asked again, becoming impatient.

Maybourne sighed and walked up to motel entrance. "I might as well as start from the beginning then. You might want to come in, have a seat, stay warm, eat something. It's a long story. He'll be fine for a little while, don't worry," he said, nodding at the driver. Opening the door, he beckoned Young to follow him.

The Colonel hesitated for a moment, but when he thought back on Maybourne's file, he remembered reading about incidences like these. Usually he had a hidden agenda, but for the most part his intelligence was good. And, he had a gut feeling that this was going to be important. Slowly, he brought his gun in and holstered it, and walked in the motel, following Maybourne to a small room set up with full furnishings, immediately warming up as the heat was running on full blast. The room had nothing fancy, just a table with three chairs placed near the window which had thick curtains covering it, blotting out almost all of the light. A small TV set was positioned across of a bed onto which Maybourne threw his thick, black coat. At the end there was a small kitchen with a counter devoid of anything but a microwave and TV dinners.

He took a seat where he was offered one and carefully watched Maybourne as he moved about the room. "You want something to drink, eat? They may drive you around, but they don't feed you well, do they?" he said, pointing out to the car.

"No thanks," Young said bluntly. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and sighed. "I'd rather just hear what you have to say."

Shrugging, Maybourne poured out one glass of whiskey for himself. "Suit yourself." He took a small sip of it and seemed to relish it immensely. "You know, they had a lot of good things on my planet, but they could never seem to make a good glass of alcohol. I guess that's where all of this started," he reminisced.

Gingerly carrying his glass, he made his way to the table Young was seated at and took up a chair across from him. "I had a good run on that world actually. After SG-1 killed Ares, I found that I didn't have any more problems with my little slice of paradise. It stayed that way even through the Replicator and Ori threat; guess we weren't strategically valuable," he scoffed, taking in another small sip.

"Anyways, we didn't have any problems with anyone. The planet was pretty much mined dry, and it wasn't of any key value. No one knew about the Ancient calendar, and it was worthless beyond the planet." He twirled the drink uncomfortably for a second before putting it down on the table top. "Then, two years after the Ori threat was gone, this would have been while you were in stasis, the Lucian Alliance came to my world."

Young nodded understandingly. "General O'Neill told me that we went to war with them shortly after we went into stasis. I never saw a list of worlds they occupied, but I could imagine that list was extensive."

"Yeah, well, that didn't make me sleep better at night," he replied. "They came quickly and occupied the entire town. I told my people not to fight; that it would save lives if we just cooperated. At first, it wasn't that bad. They used my world as a safe world, somewhere off the map where they could easily regroup when needed. There was only one Mothership at any time and a squadron of Gliders. Not to say that they treated us civilly of course. They put everyone on quotas for food and work. I only remained in power because they wanted someone to communicate to the people who could convince them to stay in line."

"They never knew you were from Earth?" Young asked, a question that had just popped into his head.

"If they did, do you think I would be here right now? No, no one knew and thankfully none of my people told them. That's not important though," Maybourne said tiredly. "As the war raged on, they started to use my planet more and more. Eventually they set up a permanent communications post in the town." A small smile crept up on his face as he straightened up and leaned forward on the table. "Needless to say, I took full advantage of that."

Young saw where he was going with this. "You spied on them," he said, some admiration in the lining of his tone.

"I did what I could. Some of the things that I heard in that post were very useful, and unsettling, but without any way to relay that information to Earth, well, it was pretty useless. So, I made up a story that I needed to visit another planet, a trading partner. We did have some occasional traders come through the 'Gate, so I was able to come up with a convincing enough planet. I remembered a few planets that I knew had good relations with Earth, so I created a small network that would convey that information back to Earth."

"You never tried to leave your world, get out of danger?" Young asked, feeling like that was a question he had to ask.

Maybourne sighed and looked hurt at Young. "Just because I retired offworld doesn't mean that I lost all my connections to Earth. I never forgot what my real home was," he said coldly. "If I had gone back to Earth, yes I would've been safer, but I wouldn't have been able to continuously send them information. And for a while, it worked perfectly. Based on the furious talks I heard in their command post, I knew that my intel was proving helpful." He leaned back and picked up his glass, finishing off the remaining contents, looking upset. "But I knew it wouldn't last. After enough minor, yet effective, victories on Earth's part, they realized that someone had to be leaking information to them. Knowing that this was the only non-secure communications post they had, they didn't need to do much work to figure out my town was the leak.

"They locked us down completely, put us under martial law. Almost immediately they started making arrests and interrogating potential suspects. At that point, I knew I was going to be on the chop soon enough. I confided with some of my closest supporters, and in the dead of night we escaped that world." He looked down at the ground solemnly and swallowed hard. "I lost five of my best men that night, in the fight to escape. The 'Gate was lightly guarded, but we brought crossbows to a gun fight. Still, we got out, leaving none of my guard to take the blame. Then it was just a matter of booking a flight to Earth. Surprisingly, there were many Goa'uld cargo ships just lying around the galaxy for me to use," he said, twirling the empty glass on one side.

Again, Young furrowed his brow, looking puzzled at Maybourne. Anticipating something more to be said, something bad, he sat up straighter and leaned in attentively. "What do you mean, book a flight? Couldn't you just use the 'Gate; go straight to Stargate Command?"

"If I did that, I still wouldn't be here to speak to you," he replied simply. Seeing Young's puzzled look grow more puzzled, he smirked, realizing he had hit the jackpot. "How much did General O'Neill tell you about the politics on Earth, after the onset of the war?"

"He didn't," Young admitted honestly. He had been naturally curious about how things had gone, but he figured if it was important enough the General would tell him in his own time. "He mentioned that there were some gains by the IOA in management of the Stargate Program, and that expansion of military tech had taken place, but for the most part I was the one telling him all of the news."

Maybourne merely shrugged in response. "If by 'gains in management', he meant that the IOA was in complete control of the SGC, then yeah, that sounds right." He chuckled lightly as he saw Young's puzzled look continue to grow. "Oh yes, they are in complete control of everything that goes in or out of the Stargate. As the war began to consume more of the military's resources, the IOA asserted that they should be allowed to manage the SGC and everything related to research and development, thereby giving the military leeway to focus entirely on the war and construction of ships. In their mind it was a… generous offer, and the new President agreed. It didn't hurt that the only reason he won was the massive campaign budget they gave him." He shook his head and looked amazed. "I don't know where they found him. But he was willing to follow their directive to the letter. They told him what to say at all the speeches and campaigns, and he looked like the shiniest penny on the block. When in reality he was just a dummy with the IOA's hand up his ass. Once in the White House, he ordered the Air Force to relinquish control of the SGC to the IOA. They kept some of the Air Force officers to run the 'Gate, but it was mostly civilian after that. Hell, if it wasn't for those officers, I wonder if my intelligence would've made it to O'Neill's desk."

"I'm sorry, but you're still not making any sense," Young complained, letting out a deep breath of frustration. This entire discussion was giving him information, but he didn't quite see where it was going, and that was starting to annoy him.

"Fine, you want it out quickly? Alright then. The IOA is working with the Lucian Alliance," he said bluntly.

"What?" Young exclaimed in disbelief, staring open-mouthed and wide-eyed at Maybourne. "This is insane. I should never have come in here to listen to you." He rose quickly from his chair and made to leave.

"That's it, really?" Maybourne said. He made no move to stop Young though. "You just leave when you hear something that you don't think is plausible?" As Young stood waiting, Maybourne leaned forward closer, a clever gleam in his eye. "Didn't you ever feel that something was wrong, ever since Major Brooks joined you? Anything at all? Come on, Colonel, humor me at least. You're a trained officer, both in the SGC and in the real world. What did your guts tell you?" he said, pandering to Young's military nature, the part of him that told him to trust no one and nothing.

Young refused to speak, but his return to his seat told Maybourne all that he needed to know. Satisfied that the Colonel was paying attention to him, he continued. "I'll have you know, that it wasn't easy for me to get all of this intelligence. I had a few favors left on Earth, and a man on the inside that… understands the importance of what I was doing," he said, a bit of pride coming through with his words. "What I learned was that the IOA had arranged a deal with the Lucian Alliance. The war stays away from Earth," he started, but paused for a moment, scratching his beard and taking a deep breath before finished, "and they will give the Lucian Alliance the _Destiny_."

* * *

><p>"You know, I was in a suit like this once, back in the Pegasus Galaxy," McKay said as he walked down the hallway uncomfortably, carrying his helmet in his hand. He had been fitted into the rest of the suit, but refused to wear the helmet until they reached their destination. "This was probably a prototype version of an environmental suit, which the Asgard must've found in an Ancient database and modified for their own purposes." He twitched a little and fiddled with the leg of his suit. "Though they must have spent more time fixing their inner gel layer; seriously, am I the only one feeling a rash coming along?"<p>

Following right behind him, Rush silently ignored him while closing the door behind him. Once it locked and the lock glowed red to confirm it, he walked over to the door on the other side leading to the section that contained the robot. "All right, helmets on," he said as he carefully lifted his own helmet and placed it on his head, securing it to the body. Brody complied immediately and McKay struggled for a moment as he unwillingly donned the helmet. "We're ready in here, Dr. Park," he announced into his suit radio. "You can normalize the environment in here and release the door once ready.

"Understood," she responded from the Bridge. The small section of the corridor hissed slightly as the atmosphere changed to accommodate the next section, but Rush felt no change as he was perfectly protected in his suit. A moment later, it was quiet. "You're all set now." The lock spun and the door in front slid open. "I've managed to localize the location of the robot to a few sections. The information should be on your Kino Remotes," Park informed them.

Rush raised his to view the information, as did the other two scientists. "Thank you, Dr. Park," Rush mumbled. They all passed through the door and began to walk down the long corridor.

A loud whirring from behind drew their attention to the door and they all stared in shock as it quickly sealed shut and locked itself.

"Was that supposed to happen?" McKay asked quickly, pointing nervously at the door, praying intensely that this was just a joke.

"No, no it was not," Brody answered, this time choosing to avoid the condescending remark. He marched right up to the door and palmed the door lock, only to discover that it would not respond as he had feared.

Recognizing it was his turn to do something, Rush tapped on his radio. "Dr. Park, did you lock the door?" Static filled on the radio instead of Park's response. "Dr. Park, do you receive?" As if in response, the lights in that section immediately dimmed and began to flicker.

"Okay, I've been through my share of creepy alien ships, and this is _definitely_ not good!" McKay shouted, panic filling his voice.

"The panel's circuits are fused," Brody said after a quick inspection of the inner working of the door lock.

"What? No, no, no, no, no," McKay spattered out. He stormed up to the door and shoved Brody aside. "It's gotta be fine." He fiddled with it for a second, the work seeming to calm him down for a second.

When nothing happened, Brody returned the favor. "Well, is it fine?"

McKay turned around looking dejected and worried. "No, the circuits are fused."

"Enough!" Rush shouted into the suit's mic. Both of the other scientists pivoted to look at him. The helmet lights blinded them for a quick second as he turned his on, illuminating his face within the protective gear and the darkened hallway. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Now, it's even more imperative that we find the robot. It has equipment that will open this door," Rush said, pure annoyance dripping in his voice. His tone didn't sound like his attention was fully focused on the situation; he had an idea and that was distracting him.

Brody turned his own lights on and looked at the Scotsman. "He's right. Even if it can't fix the door, there are cutters on the robot."

"Good, it's agreed then. Let's split up," Rush announced, taking no time to start moving away from the group. "We'll find the robot faster." That and he could have some time alone to solve this problem once and for all.

He marched down the hall and glanced periodically at the Kino Remote. The robot wasn't too far down from where he was, but something was nagging on his mind. It finally hit him once he walked past an unlocked door.

It was a laboratory much like the one that Rush had used to stage a coup against the military after the first encounter with the Nakai. Young had had most of the encountered labs locked down to prevent a reoccurrence, but no one had gotten a chance to unlock them again. This one was open and active, and as far as Rush knew no one ever went done this particular way. The lights were off in this room just like in the rest of the section, but the singular window exposed the room to the bright blue glow of the F.T.L. vortex and it illuminated the room sufficiently.

What drew his attention was the furious glowing on all of the computer terminals. He cautiously walked into the room and examined the data that was flowing across the screens. On them, he recognized thousands of various processes and calculations being executed and categorized.

"It's amazing to realize how much this ship has learned," Amanda said. This time Rush didn't even look up to make sure it was her; he had been expecting her to make an appearance sooner or later. "It's more amazing to realize that it still hasn't learned enough."

Still avoiding looking at her, Rush walked to the other panels along the walls. "I take it that you're responsible for our power problems?" he accused, skimmed through whatever data he could make out.

"I had to get your attention, bring you here somehow," Amanda confessed.

He nodded mildly and watched as sensor logs were pulled up, analyzed, and archived. Carefully navigating through the directories, Rush pulled up documents he had never seen before, dealing with every single topic imaginable. "It's a library," Rush said in sudden realization. "A catalog of everything this ship has learned."

Amanda didn't answer, and the scientist turned finally to look at her. She was shaking her head at him which threw him into confusion. "No. It's a library of everything that is _going_ to happen."

Rush was getting even more confused, but this was a chance to learn more about the mission of _Destiny_ without going through his own time consuming research, and this time he was willing to listen to Amanda. "What do you mean?"

"_Destiny'_s mission was always vastly important, and it had to be ensured that it would not fail," she started. Her eyes wandered across the room, from the streaming numbers to Rush's face that was lit up under the helmet lights. "A good way to protect anything... is to know what is going to happen. And that's what I am here for," Amanda said proudly, extending her arms to exemplify the power this room held.

So many questions were flying through Rush's mind as he dwelt on the idea that she was telling him. "How's that possible, that you're this... guardian of _Destiny_? This ship has been around for millions of years. How can you be Mandy?" he asked, half in true curiosity, and half is tears over his lost love.

She realized that she had him listening to her and feeling for her, and Rush could see her expression light up. "I am Mandy, that I can tell you with absolute certainty," she said reservedly, "but for now that is all I can tell you with certainty."

He continued to stare at her and let out an exasperated sigh. "You keep telling me that this mission is important, and I truly believe that. But you're not making this easy for yourself," he said resolutely. "I won't cooperate with anything you want, unless you give me some real answers, right now." He tried hard to maintain a composed voice, but anger still filled it and it seemed to spill to Amanda because she nodded back at him.

"Alright," she answered, without another moment's pause. Walking up to him, she stretched her hand out and went through his helmet to rest her palm on his forehead.

Rush saw everything. The flurry of numbers, documents, images, sounds was too much at first; all he saw was white and all he heard was a whine. But slowly they began to peel away and focus on one thing. He listened carefully and watched attentively and Amanda guided his mind to something he knew to be inherently important. As he was engrossed in the information, he could feel his mouth open in shock at what he was learning. Just as the white was returning, she retracted her hand and he was back in the room again.

Rush looked open-mouthed at Amanda and backed up against the wall. "Oh my God," he whispered as he brought his head down to his hands.

"Now do you understand what you must do, and why?" she asked softly, kneeling down to his level. He nodded his head, and when he looked up, he was alone.

* * *

><p>Young stood quietly at the window, peering through the cracks in the blinds. The guards at this outpost would be waking up from the effects of the Zat gun very soon, so he knew he had a short talk left with Maybourne. He couldn't believe the enormity of this accusation, but he had to admit that he never did trust the IOA, and it had been a long time since he brushed up on the state of Earth bound politics. As long as there was a sliver of truth or credulity in what he was saying, Young felt an obligation to listen.<p>

He turned back and glared sharply at Maybourne. "Go on," he said authoritatively.

Maybourne let a smile crack. "Looks like I'm getting through. Good. Well, the deal was quite simple. The IOA have long shown little sympathy for the ninth-chevron mission, especially when the resources needed to pull it off became staggering." Maybourne paused a moment and settled awkwardly in his seat. "Now, the IOA won't admit it, but one of their so called, 'ambassadors' was contacted by the Lucian Alliance when they were on Langara trying to get access to their 'Gate. This was before the war broke out," he tossed in quickly to clarify. "They made their offer and it was relayed to the IOA. Faced with the possibility of bringing Earth into an interplanetary war or sacrificing a handful of lives of a half-assed mission, I don't need to tell you which option they went with," he scoffed.

Young thought for a moment, trying to make sense of this story by poking holes in it. "If the Alliance has really been working on this for three years, how come they haven't reached _Destiny_ yet? They did it last time quickly."

To this Maybourne grew more serious. "Who said they're _not_ on _Destiny_ already?"

"What do you mean?" Young asked loudly. "We've conducted searches of the ship ever since we came out of stasis. There was no sign that the Alliance had successfully dialed in."

"That doesn't mean they don't have an agent right under your nose," Maybourne answered, showing agitation at having to explain everything at such length. "Did the IOA ever tell you exactly what Major Brooks' field of specialty was?" Young's eyes scrunched up and he felt a hot needle shove into his head. He had always had a bad feeling about that woman, and this just hit a sore spot. Curling his fist into a tight ball, he shook his head slightly.

"I'll give you the short version then. She _volunteered_," he stressed the word, almost with a little bit of admiration, "to be exposed to a controlled burst from the Ancient repository in an experimental procedure based on Rush's work with the nueral interface chair. With it, she gained crucial knowledge into Ancient work on FTL technology, and the wormhole drive that was at one point employed on Atlantis. Now initially this was a secret project that Dr. McKay was undertaking in the goal of finding another way to reach _Destiny._ It was a promising line of research, until the IOA decided that it wasn't where the Atlantis team should be devoting their efforts. They recalled Major Brooks and the official story was that the IOA was heading a R&D team at the SGC to develop the technology. They were working on it all right, just we weren't getting the final product." He sighed and glanced at the curtains as if he could see something through them. Looking tired, he showed that he hadn't expected to take this long on his story. "That's how the Lucian Alliance plans to reach _Destiny_ if the 'Gate fails. She is their eyes on _Destiny_, and meanwhile, they are taking the knowledge from her mind to construct the wormhole drive, which thankfully is not easy work for them," he said, adding the last bit somewhat cheerfully. "As far as I'm aware they've been stuck on the theory and math of the technology for the better part of this arrangement."

"Do you know where she is?" Young asked bluntly. "What have they done with Dr. Ryder?"

He scoffed in response. "If it was as simple as a search and rescue mission, I could have had the coordinates snuck into O'Neill's office by now. Unfortunately, that information is in a place I don't have any friends in."

"Well, let's say I believe you," Young started, glancing at the digital clock on the stove not far behind Maybourne's chair, realizing how long he had been talking with this man, "what do you expect me to do about it?"

"Take this to General O'Neill," Maybourne said emphatically, leaning in so quickly it made Young flinch and stretch out for his gun. "He'd listen to you. _Get_ him to listen to you, and confront the IOA. Jack's been putting up with the IOA running the show this long because he didn't know the threat they posed. Tell him what I've told you, and get to the IOA. Get to Shen; she's been the one calling most of the shots. She can tell you where to find Brooks and how to disconnect the stones… if you pressure her the right way, that is," he added with a crooked smile. Rising, he gave the Zat to Young, gesturing that he wanted to end this peacefully. He grabbed his coat from off of the bed. "Don't worry; I've got more. I'll be in the area for a little while, but I don't expect to see you again." With that, he turned and walked right out of the motel, fixing a hat on his head and zipping up a heavy winter coat.

Young waited a moment, thinking about everything that had happened. Instinctively he wanted to doubt Maybourne and bring him in to be arrested for the numerous federal laws that he was guilty of violating, but it just seemed too true. Grabbing the Zat, he burst out of the room and into the cold parking lot. The car he had come in was still parked in front of his room with the driver out cold at the wheel. Maybourne was nowhere to be seen.

He ignored the freezing temperature and ran up to the car. Pulling the driver's door open, he shook the airman awake.

"Airman, wake up!" Young said, slapping him across the face. Bleary eyed and disorientated, he started to come to. Reading the name 'Stone' on his breast pocket, Young addressed him by name to speed up his awakening. "Stone, wake up, airman!"

Stone's eyes jumped open and he rose quickly, nearly hitting his head on the top of the car frame. "Sir?" he asked questioningly. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you later," Young said rising and handing him his side-arm he had taken from the passenger side seat. "Now, I need to get back to Homeworld Defense."

* * *

><p>O'Neill stared down at Young in a distressed yet comic face. Having returned to the Pentagon a few minutes ago, Young had gone straight to the General and relayed only the most crucial information he had gotten from Maybourne. Now, he was just waiting for the hard questions.<p>

"So tell me, Colonel," O'Neill started out, folding his hands and leaning into the colonel, "read all this in a fortune cookie, did you?"

Young knew he would want to know the source of the intelligence, but he was hesitant to admit that it came from Maybourne. "I obtained this information from a reliable source, sir. That much I can guarantee you." O'Neill simply sat and stared at him jocular disbelief.

"How do you expect me to take you at your word right now?" he asked in a frank voice. "Your escort was stunned with a _Goa'uld_ weapon, and there for at least fifteen minutes there was a blackout on your position. That means for fifteen minutes," he said matter-of-factly, but not accusingly, "I have no idea what happened to you. Someone could have cloned you, brainwashed you, or taken memories from you. A lot of kooky things can be done to a person in this galaxy, believe me."

"I assure you that I am in my right state of mind," Young said, carefully planning how to continue. "A... mutual source approached me and gave me valuable intel. I was the only medium that could get that knowledge to you."

"Would it be too hopeful of me to ask who that source was?" O'Neill's tone was serious, but Young could see something hidden in his demeanor, something that made him think there was something deeper to everything that was going on, but he couldn't pin it down. Instead, he forgot about it for now, and sat silently in front of the General. "Figured," he sighed. "I don't know how you expect me to act on something that was just given to you, by a clearly biased source."

Young forgot about trying to use Maybourne's information for a moment, and just went with his gut feelings. "Even from what I've observed on my own, I can tell that the IOA is wielding an unbalanced amount of power in the Stargate program. I've felt something was wrong ever since they placed Major Brooks on _Destiny_. Talk to Mr. Woolsey," he blurted out, trying to think of anyone that might be able to help. "He's shown himself to be open-minded to the needs of the program."

The General tapped the table and winced uncomfortably as he leaned back into his chair. "You'd find that a little difficult to do, I'm afraid," he admitted after a moment. "You're right, saying he was willing to listen to us. It got him booted out of the IOA and tucked into an off-world base to keep him quiet."

Young just sat shell-shocked in his seat. Thinking to himself he realized this world was just as alien as the one he was trying to run from. Nothing here was as he had remembered it, and he couldn't figure out any way to win. "Doesn't that just make this situation seem more plausible, that the IOA is controlling everything for their own hidden agenda?"

"Dammit, Everett!" O'Neill shouted. "It's the IOA! Of course they have their agenda in the playing field." He let his anger pour out now. "I always knew they'd be a problem for us, and now I'm being proven right again. And you know how much I hate to be proven right."

"Then do something, sir," Young urged. He recognized his opportunity right now to get action out of the General. "I'm doing this to protect the people on that ship. They're all my responsibility, and you understand that burden. You can do something. Talk to the IOA, and if that doesn't work, then _force_ them to relinquish control of the SGC to the Air Force."

"Are you even listening to yourself, Everett?" O'Neill said incredulously. "You're asking me to start a coup and overthrow one of the most powerful and secret government agencies! Now how in the hell do expect that to happen?" Sighing, he slouched in his seat and scratched his forehead. "You've been on that ship too long. I think you've forgotten how things work around here."

"With all due respect, sir," Young began quietly but firmly, "I know _exactly _how things are supposed to work. For me, I was here yesterday. I'm afraid something happened here while we were in stasis; something that made everyone forget, that there are people out there beyond this world, and that one of the founded principles of the Stargate program was to defend humanity. No matter where they might be. And right now, there are many people that are in danger, and action on your part will save them." He was afraid he had gone out of line with the General, that he would take his words as a claim to weakness. But he didn't really care; there was nothing he could do to him.

O'Neill looked gravely at the colonel. His eyes showed understanding and a desire to act, but time had tempered him and he was cautious now. "What if you're wrong?" he asked. "If I go along with you on this and storm into the IOA offices with false accusations and threats, what do you think is going to happen to the rest of the program?"

"I'm not," he answered quickly and shortly, throwing away any prior doubt that he had about this ordeal.

* * *

><p>Rush walked out of the lab and started down back to the entry corridor. He hadn't got far before the lights in the hallway staggered back on and the natural hum and hiss of ship's plumbing returned. Stopping for a moment, he removed his helmet and turned to look back at the lab. He thought he caught the glimmer of a face, but he didn't see anything last. "I understand," he whispered to the empty hallway. Taking everything that he had just learned, he knew he would need to get some more information on the matter. Marching back on down the hallway, he soon began to hear voices echoing from the entrance to this section.<p>

"Well, now that that's fixed, what say we get out of these steamers and get to work somewhere, um, cooler?" It was Eli's voice that echoed loudly down the hall, but clearly Dr. McKay was the speaker.

"You go," he heard Brody say. "Get Dr. Park to help you out so you don't break anything. I should go find Rush." At that moment, Rush turned the corner and entered the hallway with McKay and Brody. "And there he is," he said cheerfully, almost looking happy to see the Scottish scientist. "Where were you? We tried to radio you, to tell you we found the robot." As he said that he gestured to the large metal ball that had been rolled up to the now opened door. "I just shut it down and brought it here. Did you fix the lights?" he asked pointing to the ceiling.

"What was wrong with the lights?" Eli asked. He shook himself out of disorientation and looked round the hallway. "And... why am I in a space suit in the middle of the ship?"

Brody forgot about his conundrum with Rush and turned to look at Eli with a confused look. "Eli? What just happened to McKay?"

Eli stuttered and continued to look around the corridor. "Uh… I don't know. I was um… on Earth, and then I … was not. And why am I in this suit?"

"They must have disconnected the stones without telling you," Brody speculated.

Rush ignored him and walked quickly down the hallway. He made a brief stop in the suit room to messily throw off his suit and marched right down to the communication room. Ignoring anyone in his way, he didn't stop until he turned the corner next to the door and heard urgent voices from inside. It sounded like Colonel Young and Sergeant Greer.

"What happened on Earth, sir?" he heard Greer ask.

"I'm afraid I don't have the time to explain right now, Sergeant. I came back for a short time only to give you new orders," Young said quickly and firmly. "Find Major Brooks, and have her confined to her quarters. Put guards in the room and out of the room."

"Yes, sir," Greer said without any question or hesitation. He actually sounded as if he was more than happy to do it.

"And Sergeant, do not listen to anything that she says. My orders stand until I return and tell you otherwise," he stressed. "Is that clear?"

"Absolutely, sir." A moment later, Greer exited the room and stormed down the other side of the hall. Rush listened to the entire exchange with interest, but decided against any kind of speculation. In any other situation he might have, but right now he had more important things to worry about. He had expected something to happen with Brooks sooner or later, and he didn't let any surprise show on his face. Waiting until Greer's footsteps were far enough away, Rush walked into the stone room. Barnes was seated at her laptop as usual, and Young was standing next to the table, with a look that indicated he was waiting for something.

"Colonel," Rush said calmly. "How was Earth?" taking a seat and grabbing a stone.

"Eventful," he answered shortly, suspiciously eyeing Rush's actions. "Planning on going somewhere?"

"As a matter of fact," Rush said in a dull tone, "I had some scheduled Earth-time and I figured I'd take it now. There's some research that I'd like to do back on Earth. The necessary archives would be located there."

"You'll have to do it later," Young responded unapologetically, uncomfortably adjusting the shoulder strap on his sling. He was annoyed to be back in it, even if it was for just a few minutes.

Rush sat still in his chair, quietly hating his luck. He clenched the stone tightly and looked at the Colonel with a countenance of sheer annoyance. "And why's that?"

"I'm returning to Earth shortly, and there's no room for you," he answered bluntly.

"If I may ask, as to what's so important that you need to go right back?" Rush asked, very aggravated, rising from his seat and standing level with the Colonel to make sure he was paying attention to him.

Young took a step up to Rush. "What's so important that _you_ suddenly want to go to Earth?" he returned roughly, striking Rush right where he knew it was going to sting.

For a moment neither of them moved. Rush would refuse to speak; both of them were aware of that fact. Fuming silently, Rush dropped the stone onto the table with a clang, and backed out of the room slowly. Young didn't derive any satisfaction from having proven to himself that the scientist was yet again holding out on him; he would deal with him later.

As a steaming Rush left the room, a confused Wray bumped into him. She watched as he furiously stomped away. "What's wrong with him?" she asked with concern.

Young picked up the stone Rush had dropped and handed it to Wray. "I expect I'll find out soon enough," he predicted unhappily.

She took the stone from him and sat down next to him. "Huh," he remarked. "Well, what did you need me for? I wasn't expecting to go to Earth for another few days."

"I'll tell you in a moment," he briskly said, placing his stone on the pad. Sighing, she followed his action and closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>Shen scribbled some notes on her paper as she listened to the speakerphone. She was sitting comfortably at her desk in the IOA main office located in DC. It was a large office with a wall-mounted monitor that could send and receive video and every piece of office tech that you could think of. Just another good use of tax dollars for the IOA, and Shen loved every penny that was used. The sun drifted through the window behind her and illuminated the room with natural lighting. She had spent a lot of time perfecting this room to her liking.<p>

"Don't worry, Carl," she said reassuringly to Carl Strom on the other end of the line. "I'm having a meeting with the Russian ambassador next week, and I'll be sure they accept the new arrangement."

"I hope so," Carl's voice echoed clearly through the phone. "This deal contains some alterations that limit their involvement to more classified projects, and you know how the Russians get."

"I understand completely, but I've had enough meetings with them to know how to work things out right," she said confidently. "I'll give you all the details at the next board meeting."

A soft chuckle came through the speaker. "Good, Shen. I knew I could count on you. I'll see you soon." The line went dead with a click and the room went silent. That lasted for only a moment as Shen tucked the slip of paper into a drawer and sat thoughtfully in her chair.

After that moment, a loud, splintering crash interrupted her thoughts. She jumped in fear and stared at the source of the sounds. From outside her office she heard people screaming and loud stomping boots. She reached for her phone, but she discovered that the line was dead. Before she had the chance to figure out anything else, her door was swiftly pushed open and several Air Force soldiers dressed in black drabs rushed in and flanked her. She raised her hands and backed away quickly as they all trained their guns on her. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked powerfully, her voice cracking as she kept her fear under control.

None of the soldiers moved or responded. After a tense minute, General O'Neill came walking in flanked by Telford and Dr. McCormack. "General O'Neill," Shen said with authority, stepping forward and lowering her arms, "I demand an explanation for this insubordination."

"Don't look at me," he chirped. "You'll want to talk to these two." He pointed at the two flanking him, but walked up to Shen's desk for a moment before leaving. "But don't look that surprised. You had to know this was coming." Angrily, he turned and went to the door. "Please," he said to Telford and McCormack, "she's all yours. Tear her to pieces." And with that he left, taking the guards with him.

"Very well then," Shen said, retaking her seat and feeling calmer now that the guns were out of her face, "I'll ask again. What is the meaning of this, Colonel Telford?"

"I'm Colonel Young," he corrected her plainly, and she showed her suprise by raising her eyebrows inquisitively. There was no reason to play a guessing game with her. "This is Wray," Young said, nodding respectfully to Wray. "I'll leave you alone for this." Giving one final cold glare to Shen, he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Shen looked more confused than she had been a moment ago. "What are you doing here? And on what grounds gave you decided to barge into my office?"

"You know," Wray started this time, smiling wryly at Shen, "I never would have thought that all it would take is being trapped billions of light-years from home to finally realize the narrow-sightedness of this agency. Maybe you should try it sometime. I'm sure your friends in the Lucian Alliance could help you," she comically offered.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Brooks never told me exactly why she was placed on _Destiny_," Wray said, "but knowing her record from black ops, I suppose I should've seen something like this coming. How could you just sell out the lives of everyone on that ship? This agency always stood to protect all of Earth's citizens. I hadn't realized that you amended that to apply only to those on Earth." Shen sighed and leaned forward, clearing some room on her desk before crossing her arms on top of it, but remained silent the whole time. "You realize we're not going anywhere, so you might as well tell the truth." Wray crossed her legs and sat comfortably in the seat to show she wasn't leaving. "We know about the deal you made with the Lucian Alliance."

Shen raised her eyebrows languidly and spoke frankly. "What would you like to know about the deal?" She chuckled lightly, feeling good to be back in control of the situation as her statement put Wray into a semi-concealed state of shock. "What, Camille? You thought I would try to lie to you? You should understand what we're doing, and why we're doing it: for Earth."

"Yes, but at what cost?" Wray shot back. "I understand the need to protect Earth, but not by selling out the people who call Earth their home. Even _you_ need to draw a line somewhere."

"I thought there were no boundaries when it came to the good of the whole?" Shen said. "You should understand this better than most. Throughout your entire tenure here on Earth you _always_ pushed for a larger and more influential IOA presence within the Stargate program. You understood the danger of having the military running the program. They would never cooperate with us!" she said in exasperation.

"And now it's okay because _you've_ become that?" Wray exclaimed vehemently. "Now that you are in control you can just do anything that you think is right?"

Disappointment filled up in Shen's face. She sighed and fell back in her seat. "You were always such a promising member. I would have never realized being so far from home would blind you to what you have always believed."

"On the contrary," she said energetically, recalling all of her lively memories from the day she had stepped onto _Destiny_, "being there has opened my eyes and let me see from every perspective, and not just the picture you wanted me to see. I still believe the military is too rash to be given full control of anything. I still believe a strong civilian presence is needed to regulate the military. But I've learned through my time on _Destiny_ that the strongest force is the two of them working together." Wray copied Shen and sat back in her seat looking upset. "But I guess all you care about is having control; no matter the cost."

"Do you even know what the stakes are here?" Shen said accusingly. "The Alliance is not the worst enemy we've ever had to fight, but they know how to fight. They have no problem with inflicting civilian casualties, and we know they can reach Earth. They've done it before. You were almost killed when they attacked the Pentagon! They can do it again. And if the cost of protecting Earth is _one_ insignificant ship stranded somewhere on the _other_ side of the universe, how can I not act in the best interest of the people here?" she ended quietly.

They both sat in a tense silence. They were both planning what else they could use against their opponent to try and prove their point. Wray was determined to show Shen that she was wrong, but deep down she couldn't help but agree with Shen, and that hurt her more than anything. "Can you sacrifice the lives of everyone on that ship so easily?" Wray said, speaking slowly yet with every ounce of emotion. "Can you sacrifice those that people on _this_ planet love and care for?" She thought about Sharon as she spoke those words, and the family members of everyone that she knew from _Destiny_. She had made it a personal mission to get to know as many of them as possible, and she had learned there were many connections to Earth.

While she spoke, she tried not to let her tears show, to expose her loneliness and weakness. "You know me, Shen. You know I would do anything for Earth. But you need to understand that what you are talking about will not protect Earth," she begged. Wray never thought she was going to utter her next words, but right now they were all they had, and after all this time, she had started to believe it. "_Destiny_ is more than just a ship. It is the greatest source of knowledge yet discovered, and maybe Rush is right in saying that whoever controls _Destiny_ will wield infinite power."

Shen scoffed at her and gave her an incredulous look. "Are you serious? You believe him now? I'll admit; the ninth-chevron program seemed interesting at first, but it was never meant to have any long-term application." Shen perked up and looked seriously at Wray. "Do you know why we put Rush on that program in the first place?" At this question Wray frowned and shook her head. "He was a brilliant scientist, but he became too obsessed with anything that he worked on. It was meant to be a place where he could put his genius to good use, but not interfere with the running of the program. The fact that he believes in _Destiny_'s all-important mission with such fervor is just proof of that."

"Rush was right, then," Wray said sadly. "We _are_ on our own."

"I've already told you. My first priority is to the people on Earth," Shen concluded firmly, ignoring any sentimental plea from Wray.

"Okay then. Fine. The Lucian Alliance gets to _Destiny_. They learn from the ship and the deal is fulfilled," Wray prompted a hypothetical. "Then what? They just forget about Earth? They just ignore one of the strongest military oppositions to them in the galaxy?" she shouted at Shen, rising from her seat to gain a feeling of power of her. "How long until Earth becomes a target again? How _long_, until the Lucian Alliance gains enough power that they don't care what threats we throw their way, and they come to Earth and attack anyways?"

Shen sat still in her seat fuming at Wray. Inside she was bubbling with rage, but had to admit to herself that she had feared that herself. "Just… tell me where they are keeping Dr. Ryder," Wray beseeched. "We can go and find her and get her back. It's not fair what she has to go through. There are too many victims in this plan of yours. Give me the information to stop it."

* * *

><p>Young watched as the last IOA official was policed out of the building by two black-clad soldiers. He stayed in the lobby of the building where it was protected from the cold outside. He had grown used to the consistency on <em>Destiny<em> – it was always the same temperature and ambience – so it was different for him when different places were cold or hot. O'Neill's boots echoed loudly through the ornate marble lobby as he paced around.

"Did you expect it to be quick?" Young ventured to ask him. He briskly walked to the other end of the lobby that led to the offices where Wray was and waited for her to return.

"No, I just forgot to bring a set of playing cards," he said pacing around. They waited in silence for another moment before O'Neill's voice echoed through the room again. "Damn!" he uttered as he looked at his watch.

"What is it, sir?" Young said, turning around to look at the General.

O'Neill looked truly distressed as he glared up at the ceiling. "I always forget to record _The Simpsons_!" Young gave him a confused and surprised look, chuckling at the General. "What? It's important."

Young found it interesting how O'Neill could always fall back onto life when things were tough. He wasn't like most COs that he had been used to. Which made him remember something from earlier that had been bugging him. Walking over to him, Young furrowed his brow and stood with his peripheral to the offices. "Sir, there's something that I'd like to know."

General O'Neill shoved his hands into his pockets and turned on his heels to face Young. "Is that so? Well?"

"What made you decide to trust me?" Young asked, shuffling uncomfortably. "Thinking back on it, I don't know if I would have trusted myself if I was in your position."

He merely shrugged slyly. "You've got your secrets; I've got mine," he replied.

Frowning, Young thought about what he was saying, and after a moment's pause he spoke. "You knew he was on Earth, didn't you?"

"It's my _job_ to know," he answered. "Harry always was good at ducking the cameras, but we spied his ship land. I gave the order not to intercept him."

"I'm guessing that memo never reached the IOA?"

"You know me, Everett. I hate memos," O'Neill scoffed. "Anyways, I knew he would only return for a good reason, so I just let him alone. It was a matter of time before he decided to try and make contact."

Young just laughed to himself and stared in amazement. He had no idea just how complicated things had to get just to get one thing done. It was just crazy in his mind. "What now?"

"Oh," O'Neill puffed, "he's probably halfway to some tropical island, counted the money he withdrew from his account. But I'll hear from him when he's good and ready to be heard. I'm just hurt though," he said filling his voice with faux pain, "that he felt he couldn't trust me." O'Neill stared at the colonel for a moment, glad for a while that things seemed to at least be working out for the best. "I am sorry though, that I made it hard for you. But you understand I still had to listen to you intel."

"Of course, sir," Young affirmed.

At that moment a smiling Wray came walking loudly through the door with Shen right behind her. O'Neill gestured roughly at two guards by the entrance to take Shen. They quickly obeyed and showed her out. "Don't worry," he called out to her, "we'll handle the politics, "he said this with air quotes, "of this soon enough."

"I'm sure we will, General," she answered with a grin. "I'll wish you luck on this, or it's not going to go well for you." She stormed out in front of the soldiers and they paced right after her to one of the black vans parked near the entrance.

"I'd say we need luck for _all_ of us," Wray said, looking triumphantly at Young. "Are you ready to end this thing?"

* * *

><p>Young jostled violently in the van as it drove over the numerous cracks and potholes in the road. His heavy full body drab was stifling even if it was still freezing outside. The other five black ops soldiers shook as well in their equally heavy gear, but they ignored it and checked their weapons instead. He decided to do the same as them. Checking to make sure he had a full magazine, he snapped the cartridge into his MP5, loaded the barrel, and switched off the safety. He felt his wrist strap to make sure his Zat was properly tightened.<p>

The earphone popped to life and O'Neill's voice came through it loudly in his right ear. "Alright people, we're two minutes out from the target. Intelligence places Major Brooks in an abandoned warehouse on the western outskirts of the city, so we shouldn't worry about civilians. We should expect no more than three guards outside. There's a small contingent within the building, and Major Brooks will be locked up in the left wing under minimal guard. We have an unconfirmed report that the Alliance has a cloaked cargo ship somewhere on the grounds. We're treating that as an affirmative, so move fast. You are authorized to use lethal force, but switch to Zats once inside the building. We don't want friendly fire in closed quarters. Priority is to find and rescue Brooks and destroy the stone terminal located with her." His orders were said quickly and authoritatively. "Okay, you're coming up on the target. Get out and move fast. Good luck."

Everything moved fast after that. The van screeched to a halt and the soldier nearest the door quickly yanked it open and ran out. Everyone else followed him and dispersed away from the black van. The driver and passenger also jumped out, all of them aiming their weapons at the small warehouse in front of them.

Young rushed forward to a concrete wall that guarded the entrance to the small parking lot and aimed his weapon around the corner, scanning rapidly for a target. He didn't see anyone until he was already taking fire. Quickly snapping away from the corner, he covered himself right as chunks of the wall exploded and showered him with a layer of dust.

The parking lot erupted into a cacophony of bullets spraying everywhere. Three vans had come in total bringing more than twenty black ops soldiers with him, and they were dispersed across the lot. One ran around the corner in front of him firing his weapon at the warehouse.

As soon as he passed, Young edged around the corner and quickly looked for a target. He saw one Lucian soldier standing behind a concrete barrier firing at another group of SG personal. Swiftly snapping his eye behind the reflex sight he took a deep breath to regulate his pounding heart and gently squeezed the trigger. He fired two short bursts and saw the soldier drop. He pulled back behind the wall just in time to avoid a trio of bullets.

As he breathed to regain himself, he realized just how much faster Telford's body reacted compared to his own. His mind was giving commands by instinct, but this body was obeying them far too quickly. He moved accurately and swiftly, and it made Young feel awkward. He had never realized just how much strong Telford was, or maybe how weak he was getting.

Putting that terrifying thought behind, he put his mind back into the firefight. He eyed around the corner without exposing himself and saw a second Lucian trying to duck under a very old looking truck. Leveling his gun he aimed right at the prone troop. Almost as if though he had a sixth sense, the troop looked right at Young and aimed his own weapon. Not waiting another second, he tapped the trigger once. He was rewarded as the soldier went limp on the ground, a large scarlet hole showing through his forehead.

Several other SG troops gathered on the wall opposite of Young and opened fire on a single position. Their combined fire took down the third Lucian soldier that had been trying to get inside the building.

"Perimeter is clear!" the lead SG officer quickly shouted. Two SG soldiers came out from the parking lot dragging a third that was painfully clenching a bloody leg.

At that moment, half of the contingent broke off and secured the entire perimeter of the building to make sure that anyone inside was going to stay there.

The other half, of which Young was a member of, charged down the parking lot and met up around the door that had been left ajar. Everyone tucked their MP5s over their shoulders and switched out to their Zats. The soldier by the side of the door that was open pulled out two grenades from his pouch. He primed them and threw them in. "Flash-bangs out!" he warned, holding the door shut with one hand.

Young took a deep breath and held it to calm his heart beat, pulling his head in to protect it from the sound. Within a half-second a somewhat deafened pop came from inside the warehouse and the soldier that was holding the door shut threw it open. Releasing his breath he followed right after him.

There were two Lucian soldiers right in the middle of the room doubled over in disorientation. The lead SG soldier zatted one and Young took the other one. They both seized up quickly and squirmed for a moment before crumpling to the ground. Young saw a large stack of crates immediately to his right and ran straight for them. Once there, he crouched and looked out across the rest of the room. The remaining SG troops poured in firing bright blue pulses at anything that was moving. Dozens of aisles with tall crates lined both sides of the warehouse, which were perfect for cover.

As they pushed on through the room, Young went around the other side of the crate and moved down the right wall to try and flank anyone he could see. A Lucian soldier came running down a narrow corridor and stopped right in front of Young. The soldier froze for a moment and he saw Young in front of him and another SG soldier at the end of the corridor he had just run from. In split second of indecision both SG soldiers fired their Zats at him, bringing him down to the ground. He collapsed without ever squirming.

Nodding at the other soldier, Young proceeded down the length of the warehouse. He quickly reached the end and did not meet another Lucian soldier the entire time. Occasionally he heard the staccato of gun fire or the buzz of a Zat, but it quickly slowed down. Turning to face the other end of the warehouse, he saw what looked like a makeshift clean-room in the opposite corner. He also saw two Lucian soldiers in front of it that immediately sprayed bullets at him.

Quickly ducking back behind crates, he started to move up a few rows before proceeding to the other side. "All SG personal, converge on me in the back-left corner. Watch for cross-fire," he barked quickly into the radio. He received a flurry of confirmations and began to sprint across the length of the row.

Once he reached the middle of the aisle he met up with two other SG soldiers. There were three Lucian soldiers sprawled on the ground in front of them, and a mental tally told Young that most of the Lucian soldiers had been taken out. Together, they proceeded down the length of the warehouse. More confidently this time, he turned to face the clean-room and squeeze the trigger on his Zat. He discharged three bursts from it. The first two spread out across the plastic surface of the clean-room, and the third grazed one of the Lucian soldiers temporarily disorientating him.

The second soldier was left unharmed and opened fire. Young hid by a thick metal beam running up the length of the warehouse, but one of the SG soldiers following after him was caught in the middle of the line of fire. His body flailed as red puffs exploded from him and then he fell to the ground.

Cursing his luck at having drawn his fellow soldier into harm's way, Young proceeded to forget about it. He saw other SG soldiers moved carefully down the aisles to reach the corner and knew that this would all be over in a short time.

Hearing two automatic weapons opening fire on a position that wasn't his, Young took the opportunity. He pivoted around the corner of the beam and took aim on the first soldier he saw. The soldier never saw the bolts that put him on the ground. In response, the second soldier turned him weapon on Young.

Before he could act, another Zat blast came from the side of the Lucian soldier farthest from Young and he convulsed before falling to the cement floor with a crunch. Three SG soldiers revealed themselves from the aisle near the clean-room, and Young acknowledged them in thanks.

"Warehouse is secure," the team leader announced. "Moving in to secure the target."

A dozen boots stormed loudly through the warehouse to reach the clean-room. Young brushed the plastic covers aside and walked in astride with the team leader. Inside they found a simple setup containing a large desk with three laptops and a restraining chair containing the body of Major Brooks. Next to her there was a small table which held a stone pad on it.

Young moved over to the pad and yanked the stone off of it, disconnecting it from its power source. The bright blue pad didn't turn off and Young pulled his Zat out to shoot it.

"Hold it!" O'Neill shouted as he rushed into the room. He was dressed in a black drab like the rest, but wasn't wearing any of the heavier protective gear. He closed a Zat as he walked in. "Let's not shoot that thing just yet."

Young nodded in compliance. He closed his Zat as well and replaced it on the wrist strap. In extreme relief he took his helmet off and exposed his head to the cool air conditioning that filled the clean-room. Putting it down on the table with the stone pad, he examined Brooks'. He found a pulse, but there was only slow breathing. "She alive," he reported. "It looks like she's just knocked out."

"Alright, well, get a medical unit sent here," O'Neill ordered the SG officer to his right. With a crisp nod he ran out speaking into his radio. "I'll have a crew come in here and catalog everything in here; figure out what ops they were running, and if there's anything useful on those computers." He nodded in approval as he looked around the small, brightly-lit room. "Good work, Everett."

"General," the team leader announced worriedly, "I don't think we're gonna need a decrypt team." He had removed his helmet as well, but was staring intently at one of the computer screens.

"What have you found, Colonel?" O'Neill asked, taking a large step to stand right next to him. Young followed and stood right behind him, getting as good a view as he could.

"This was already open when I looked," he said, pointing at what was being displayed. The screen showed a three-dimensional model of a planet. A circular icon glowed red on the surface and a small text bubble appeared above it; a 'Gate address was blinking there. On the right side of the screen a large amount of information was scrolling quickly and the words 'Upload Complete' shone prominently at the top of the tab.

"They've sent all of the data they obtained from Major Brooks to one of their outposts," the leader said, verbalizing what everyone already knew.

"We're not done yet," Young said glumly staring at the information that made this entire operation seem useless to him.

"No," O'Neill affirmed, but he didn't sound as distraught, "but we know where they are. So what say you, Colonel? You ready to take this fight to them?"

Young grinned and nodded affirmatively at him. "Yes, sir."

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. With the plot on Earth uncovered, the crew of <em>Destiny_ and forces on Earth must launch a strike to stop the Lucian Alliance at all costs, to prevent their enemy from achieving the power to strike anywhere they want in the universe._


	9. Tides of War

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_Huge thanks to everyone that has been keeping up with the story! I crunched this one out over the last week, so I hope it turned out smoking hot! Just, so a big thank you to my readers. I write for you, really. Your amazing reviews and thoughts have pushed me to write more. I just passed 10,000 hits to this story, which is really great in my mind. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!_

_Before I move on, a few words in response to reviews. AlexanderD, thanks for picking up on my tactic mess-up. You're right; not my area of expertise, and just happy for the offer! Marcus S. Lazarus, wow that was a detailed break down on your reaction and it was incredible to read. I love knowing that people really enjoy these episodes and that they actually make sense plot-wise. Huge thanks for the support! To Elricscousin and Angel1973, glad you found this story, happy your read it, filled with joy you liked it, and psyched to read your reviews! Thanks to all, especially those who have been reading from the start! Also, thanks to Tori Hawkeye for proofing for me; really helpful!_

_Episode nine, okay I will admit, this mostly takes place back at Earth, so if anyone doesn't like that... sorry. A chunk of this episode is spent trying to fill in the holes of where has Earth gone in the last three years, technological changes and advancements, stuff like that, so just be patient. I worked to try and blend in as much of everything possible, from action to development, to emotion, action, and a hint of relationships. As I approach the mid-season finale the focus is going to shift to the big story plot in the next episode, so I am really excited about writing that one. I beg all of you to read and please review this story if you can! I love it and the content is great! Again, and ideas or comments or questions about the story... just send me a message!_

_No schedule, so just keep your eyes on the SGU page and your FF accounts! Thanks for everything, and now... read on!_

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode, "Control". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>309: Tides of War<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery __by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_What do you think the odds are that we've seen the last of them?_

_I doubt they would plan any kind of attack on us. And, we'll be leaving their outer planets in another month, so I sincerely doubt any more attacks._

_I don't want to hurt you or anyone else, but this mission, this ship is about more than you can know. I need you to be safe, and to not interfere with anything I do, just for a little longer, and then, I promise I will explain everything._

_It's amazing to realize how much this ship has learned. It's more amazing to realize that it still hasn't learned enough._

_Who are you, and what do you want with me?_

_Colonel Maybourne, retired. What I learned was that the IOA had arranged a deal with the Lucian Alliance. The war stays away from Earth, and they will give the Lucian Alliance the Destiny._

_I understand the need to protect Earth, but not by selling out the people who call Earth home._

_We're not done yet._

_No, but we know where they are. You ready to take this fight to them?"_

* * *

><p>Varro quickly slapped the branch out of his way as he ran through the thick foliage. The snap of the branch returning to its position was blocked out by the loud thud of his heavy boots as he tore straight down through the forest. He could make out the squashed clumps of grass and still shaking vines from where his target had just ran past. Relying completely on instinct and years of training, he bolted along the path as quickly as possible.<p>

The forest was alive and full of activity, but he could still hear the tell-tale stomp of boots ahead of him and chased after the sound. Varro ducked below branches and twisted around thick tree trunks, constantly watching for small hints of which way to go. He burst out of the foliage and could see the forest clearly now. Stopping for a brief moment, he quickly scanned the area, trying to pick up the trail. It only took him that long to catch a glimpse of a dark figure running away about thirty meters away from him. Varro snapped into action and closed the distance quickly. He could hear the rush of water nearby; it was a sign that he needed to reach his target soon, or he could risk losing him. If his target escaped or died then he would lose a valuable asset.

As Varro passed through the last thick brush, he finally saw his target clearly. He was standing on the side of a cliff and ready to jump. Realizing that he must be at least ten meters away from him, Varro didn't see any way to grab him from the edge. The man he was chasing turned around to face his hunter, showing his arrogant expression and Lucian Alliance uniform.

To both of their surprises, a blue bolt of electricity shot out from the forest near the Lucian soldier and struck him flat across the chest. His arrogant countenance was replaced by him writhing in pain and effortlessly crumpling to the ground right by the cliff. Surprised and out of breath, Varro gazed to the origin on the weapon fire only to see Teal'c stride out calmly from the forest with a Zat gun held loosely in his arm. He was in a light military gear carrying nothing except the sole weapon.

"General O'Neill informed me that you were pursuing a Lucian Alliance castaway," Teal'c said, walking over to the unconscious body and roughly grabbing the man by the neck. "He also said that you choose to act alone."

Catching his breath, Varro stared at Teal'c with a semblance of irritation. "I know how to track my own people better than anyone on this planet. They would only slow me down," he said, watching as Teal'c effortlessly dragged the man across the earth over to the point where Varro was standing at.

"Indeed they would, but it would seem that I was not mistaken in choosing to aid you," Teal'c said with a satisfied smile, dropping the soldier carelessly onto the ground.

Varro sighed, but realized that he had been right is helping him out. "Thank you," he said somewhat reluctantly. Teal'c nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Now what?" Varro asked.

Teal'c responded by speaking into his earpiece. "Colonel Lorne, we have secured the target," he said.

"Understood, Teal'c," Lorne's response resonated out from the speaker. Right after that everything around Varro became unbearably bright for a fraction of a second and then he found himself standing in a large alcove within the hallway of a Tau'ri ship. An officer stood at a terminal by the opening to the hallway. "They're on board, sir," the officer said via the intercom.

"Copy that," Lorne answered. "Teal'c, take our guest down to the brig to be with his friends. We're on final approach right now, so I want you to meet up at Airlock Three when you're done. General O'Neill will be done with the Joint Chiefs within the hour and then he'll join us on the base."

"Very well, Colonel Lorne," Teal'c said obediently, hefting the soldier up effortlessly and carrying him out of the alcove. The ship was shaking somewhat roughly, but it stopped within a few seconds after the ship came to a grinding halt. The hum of the engines gradually slowed and died down, leaving the ship oddly quiet as the regular echo between the bulkheads was missing.

"Where am I?" Varro asked the officer.

"Follow me, sir," he responded. "Colonel Lorne asked for you to go to the bridge as soon as you arrived." The officer stood ready to escort him. Varro hesitantly nodded and walked out of the alcove, following at the heels of the officer as he walked down the narrow corridors. They reached the bridge very quickly. "Colonel Telford… I mean Varro is here, sir," the officer said embarrassingly. Clearly he was not used to dealing with stone communication. With a nod from the Colonel seated at his chair, the officer left.

"Welcome to the _Hermes_," Lorne said to Varro. He took the time to look around the bridge. The layout was similar to what Varro had seen through Lucian Alliance intelligence, but he had never actually had to chance to be on board one even during his time as a member of _Destiny_'s crew. Still, it appeared smaller than he assumed, having a cramped nature to it. The weapon and helm station were joined together instead of having walking space between them, and the captain's chair was only a meter behind them, uncomfortably gazing right over their shoulders. A single computer terminal with a keyboard in front of it dominated the entire port wall, while a science station and plaque with the ship's name were on the starboard wall right next to the narrow door. The aft of the bridge housed a tactical center and a few more terminals.

Varro turned to gaze out of the view port, to see where they were. The first thing that attracted his attention was that they were not orbiting Earth as he initially suspected, but rather on the surface of the moon. The nose of the ship was shorter and more streamlined than he expected to see, so he was confident now that he was not on a _Daedalus_-class ship. What interested him even more was the presence of another structure to _Hermes_' port. A large, six-sided base dominated a significant amount of space, rising around fifty meters up, with the name _Selene_ written prominently along the top of the foundation. The _Hermes_ was docked to the station by several arms that connected midway along the nose to a large section marked 'Docking Bay C'. Varro could tell there was a great deal of activity within the base as he could see people and equipment moving through the dozens of large windows dotting the structure. Atop the base itself and across the nearby lunar surface Varro could make out railgun turrets and the occasional person in a space suit working on something. On the other side of the base two, _Daedalus_-class battle cruisers were docked as well, showing Varro the obvious importance of this site. He had to admit that he was a little intimidated seeing so many powerful craft in one location. He remembered from his time in the Lucian ranks just how much trouble one of those ships could make. This single installation seemed impregnable from what he could make out.

"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" Lorne said with a hint of pride.

Varro looked back to Lorne and stared silently for a brief second. "I've completed my task here," he said matter-of-factly. "You can tell Homeworld Command to disconnect the stones and expect Colonel Young shortly."

Lorne seemed put off by Varro's business as usual attitude, but did not argue with him. "You heard the man; disconnect him," he said to the communication officer who promptly sent off a message to Earth. Within a moment he felt fuzzy for a moment, and then took a sigh of relief as his consciousness filled back into his real body. It was a joyous feeling for him as he was not as used to leaving his body as others on this ship were. _Destiny_ may not be the most perfect place in the universe to be in right now, but Varro was happy to be back.

"Varro," Young said, hovering over him urgently in the communication room, "what's the situation?"

He looked up at the Colonel with a look of success. "First phase is done; we're ready to start."

* * *

><p>As the tense situation was evolving back at home, everything on the <em>Destiny<em> was slowing down and becoming still as everyone was waiting for news to return to them. The halls were empty as everyone was gathered in quarters, the mess hall, the observation deck, and the bridge. All of the crew was anxiously chattering amongst themselves, speculating about the events that were unfolding. Even Kalin was swept up in the fever of Earth-bound events, despite needing to have everything explained to him about the back story. The ship was out in normal space with over fifty-six hours to the clock and only one 'Gate in range, so there were no immediate issues. The crew was also relieved at not having to fix something for once, so all of the bridge officers were similarly huddled around each other discussing possible scenarios.

"How much longer is he going to be in this?" Telford asked as he scratched his arm in the sling, pacing around the room.

"TJ said it could be another week," Chloe answered. "We've been growing some more of those funny little berries we got a while ago in hydroponics. They seem to be helping him."

Telford shrugged and paced around some more, giving up fiddling with the cast.

"Do you really think that the Colonel can convince Homeworld to attack?" Scott asked Telford, breaking the silence.

He sighed in response and leaned against the central chair, resting the sling atop the console. "Well I just spent the last several hours giving the Joint Chiefs my personal opinion along with the General's. We're going after them; that's for sure." Telford looked angered that the Lucian Alliance had interfered with his life in a major way again. He was boiling inside to hurt them back. "But the real problems are probably going to be Earth-side. After the IOA fiasco that we just brought to light, there have been a lot of political ramifications. The NID has been brought in to conduct investigations into IOA records and the President himself, as the IOA helped his election. I mean, clearly they went too far with their power, and now they have to pay for it. A moratorium has been placed on all current IOA projects while the checks are processed, so it's going to be a nightmare for the NID to keep a media cover-up into the political scrutiny." For once, he thought his job sounded easy when compared to all the red-tape the NID was forced to work through.

"Have they given any estimate on when they'll launch the attack?" Scott returned.

Telford shook his head. "A meeting has been called with our international allies at the _Selene_ to discuss that right now. Tactics, timing, numbers; all of that should be figured out soon enough, but I know they'll want it to be soon."

"_Selene_?" Eli asked, frowning. He had watched all the informational videos from Dr. Jackson and the name didn't ring a bell, which made him curious. "Is that like some new ship or something?"

Telford smirked. "Sorry, forgot you didn't know. It's our lunar base."

"Whoa whoa," Eli said excitedly. "We have a _moon_ base? That is friggin' awesome!" he said laughing and looking around the room with a cheerful expression.

"It was completed about half a year ago, but there's been no need to use it until now," Telford said in a monotone, clearly not finding this as interesting as Eli. "Homeworld Defense is being separated from politics as much as possible so it's being transferred to the _Selene_. Like I said, they're planning the attack there right now."

"I just hope they kick ass," the Lieutenant said in a spiteful tone, getting a clamor of affirmations from the rest of the group and killing Eli's excitement buzz.

"Well what worries me is all of the knowledge that they've had access to," Brody mentioned from his chair at the center station. "Who knows how far they are with the wormhole drive technology, or anything else they could've gotten from Major Brooks?"

"Dr. McKay is going to work on undoing the lock he placed on her stone," Telford said reassuringly, "to get Dr. Ryder back into her body as soon as possible. And hopefully we will be able to secure any technology the Alliance has managed to work on."

Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about the situation and just how much deep this conspiracy got before anyone was able to stop it.

"I still can't believe that they went that far," Chloe broke the silence, leaning against Scott's shoulder. She was voicing one of the prominent thoughts that everyone was having. "I mean, we're people. How could they just surrender our lives like that?"

"Politicians don't often see people as people," Wray responded, standing awkwardly out of the circle. She knew she wasn't to blame for this mess, but her affiliation upset her for the time being. "For the most part they see them as figures in a demographic. It's hard for them to consider the effects they have on one group if they do something good for a majority."

Eli frowned at Wray as she mellowed down and looked depressed. "Tell me you're not putting this on yourself? Yes, they did wrong, but you can't beat yourself up about it."

"It's kind of hard not to," she responded softly. "I served that function for years, and even now I'm part of that organization. Knowing that I probably did that to others in the past… I guess it's really an eye-opener when it happens to you, right?" she said calmly, regaining her composure after looking like falling apart for a split second. "I just want this to be over and to have the most positive outcome for all of us."

Similar conversations were going on throughout the ship between all of the crew. All but one crew member of course.

Rush was sitting alone in the Control Interface Room skimming through hundreds of historical documents and information files that had nothing to do at all with the Lucian Alliance issue. He found his current line of research to have a much greater importance than another Alliance threat to the ship.

He sat and read through document after document for a long while, occasionally taking a moment to glance around the room. At every moment when he learned something new, he kept expecting Amanda to appear and discuss something important with him, or to reprimand him for not devoting enough of his energy to this puzzle. But she never appeared.

Nonetheless, he continued to read and learn more, always hoping she would show herself, partly for answers, and partly just to see her.

* * *

><p>"P3X-616," General O'Neill said in time with a visual of a large planet appearing on the screen in the <em>Selene<em>'s briefing room. He sat at the head of the table across from the screen, with a large viewport behind looking out onto the lunar surface. The other members of the meeting consisted of Colonel Young in Telford's body at O'Neill's right, Teal'c to O'Neill's left, Dr. McKay next to him, and the Russian, Chinese, and British ambassadors who sat listening attentively to the General. "We've since determined this to be the location of the Lucian Alliance installation which received the data stream sent from Earth."

"Based on secure intelligence shared by the Tok'ra we know it to be heavily defended, having at least eight defending Goa'uld Ha'taks and multiple squadrons of Glider and Al'kesh support," Teal'c informed in a monotone glancing coldly across all the members of the table.

Small red icons oscillated across the screen showing the relative positions of the Alliance fleet. The General pressed another button on the small keypad in front of his seat. With that the visual zoomed towards the surface of the planet and highlighted a large facility. "The base is an old Goa'uld mining site that the Alliance has since converted to suit their needs. Due to it being a mine, the bulk of the installation is deep underground."

"Yes, and the extreme deposits of minerals make it secure against Asgard beaming technology," McKay chipped in. "It's probably the reason that they chose the site in the first place."

Quietly acknowledging the Canadian's remark, the General continued. "We have a map of the base that the Jaffa provided from old records, which should help us find all objectives. This is where Colonel Young here will come in."

Young nodded in acknowledgment as O'Neill passed the lead onto him. "I will replace one of the Lucian Alliance prisoners that we have via the communication stones and make my way into the base. Hopefully, I will be able to find my way to the data storage on all their research, at which point I will return topside and call for our task force to attack and retrieve me and the data, as well as level the base to ensure the Alliance doesn't take us too lightly."

"Forgive me for interrupting, General," said Colonel Danilko in a heavy Russian accent, without a hint of actual apology in his tone, "but why are we here? If I wanted information about facility's defenses and your plan, I would have requested you send me memo, not call me up to moon," he said with a gesture to the view from the window.

O'Neill smirked painfully and cursed out the Russian mentally for a moment before speaking. "You're all here because we need your help to make sure our plan works."

"Of course," Danilko replied snidely, leaning forward in his seat and aggravating most of the other people in the room but continuing nonetheless, "once you need our help, you call us. We can have political takeovers and alien forces on our planet, and you tell us nothing!" Danilko said in an enraged voice, smashing a fist with a deep echo onto the metal table. "But then once you decide you need help, you graciously call us to work for you."

"I have to agree," Minister Sheng said, nodding in his agreement with the gruff Russian ambassador. "Over the last few years, our government has been excluded from many operations within the Stargate Program."

"Yeah, and you know what," O'Neill said loudly and abruptly, shutting up the Chinese ambassador immediately, "we didn't know anything about the illegal operations that the IOA was running either! And if we don't stop fighting between ourselves more than we are fighting a war, then so help me or we're gonna have the first murder investigation on the moon!" he shouted angrily, shoving an accusatory finger at the Russian ambassador's face. The General sighed and took a pause to calm down, reclining limp into his chair. Young took up the slack while O'Neill thought about what to say.

"There's another important matter that needs to be discussed in addition to this attack," he said with determination and strength; he wasn't going to let any of the ambassadors find a weakness to exploit. "The computers we raided have the location of multiple Lucian Alliance ships landed on Earth with first strike capability. Now it's a good chance that by now they will be aware of our recent attacks against them and will be preparing to launch. We need the help of all our global forces to quickly and effectively destroy those ships before they attack, or we could be facing massive civilian and military losses."

Young delivered the news bluntly and it left the room in silence for a moment. The only sounds left were the beeping from screen and the hum of the _Selene_'s generator. Danilko and Sheng were clearly infuriated at the fact they were treated as second-hand members to the Stargate Program, at least in their minds. O'Neill spoke up to fill the void. "We've been fighting for the last three years with a half-hearted effort. If the Alliance attacked, we held our ground, and yeah, we've hurt their supply lines when we could. But we have been sitting on our asses for the most part and letting them come to us. It's time that we start treating this war like a war." This statement seemed mostly directed towards Danilko, who, after a moment of thinking, nodded in agreement to O'Neill. "What we need is to work together to strike the Alliance forces here and at their base, give them a taste of our capabilities."

"If I've learned anything by being alone on the other end of the universe," Young announced in an attempt to get understanding from the others, "it's that you never understood how important friends and allies were until you have none." Sheng sighed and looked at him with understanding, and Young was met by looks of sympathy by a few of the members of the meeting.

"What we need you is for assistance in both attacks," O'Neill continued in the wake of Young's statement. "302s will be able to attack any cargo ships an Earth under coordination from the _Selene_ and _Odyssey_. The _Hermes_, _Apollo_, and _Olympus_ will be part of the attack on the Alliance base," he said plainly, but took a moment to think about how to proceed. "We'll need international cooperation to launch a strike against all of the ships, and some help against the Alliance would be great. The _Hammond _and _Archimedes_ have yet to restore communications with us, so this is all we've got."

"The Jaffa High Council is in deliberation over the matter as we speak," Teal'c said after O'Neill left a short pause. "I have cast my vote in favor of assisting this plan, as has Master Bra'tac. We will know the final decision by the end of the day, but we should expect the support of several Ha'taks."

O'Neill sighed in response, but nodded his head appreciatively. "Unfortunately, we can't wait until the end of the day. Once this meeting is over we will launch, with or _without_ anyone's help," he said, glaring darkly at Danilko.

The Russian ambassador's face flushed red at the attention and he scratched his head uncomfortably. Finally after returning a severe look to O'Neill, Danilko sighed and gave the General a reluctant nod. "Russia will support any aerial attacks on Earth and _Suvorov_ will join attack against Lucian Alliance. I will… personally command her," he added slowly with a grin that made O'Neill groan audibly.

"I also pledge China's support in the defense of Earth," Sheng started, "but we cannot spare the _Sun Tzu_ at the moment."

"Britain will likewise provide full cooperation in and aerial and land strikes; however the _Nelson_ is undergoing extensive retrofitting and will not be able to partake in any engagement for quite some time," Minister Wells said sincerely, and then retreated back into his chair like he had been doing for the whole meeting.

O'Neill gave a weak smile in response to everyone. "Well then, I should let you all return and make preparations," he said, the subtext in his voice revealing how happy he was to end this meeting. "I personally want this to be over as soon as possible, so thank you for your cooperation."

Danilko didn't wait any longer. He pressed the earpiece immediately and delivered a quick order in Russian. The next second he vanished in brilliant flash of light.

"I should get back to Earth and work on disconnecting Brooks and Ryder from the stones," McKay said quickly, rising from his seat. "You know, it's surprising how hard it can be to undo something that you put so much effort into making work. I mean, you'd just think it's a simple pull the plug, but no sir," he chuckled along with a flurry of gestures, "I put so many redundancies to keep that connection stable through phase shifts and ionizing radiation that…"

"McKay!" O'Neill shouted abruptly, rubbing his head in irritation. "Stop giving us your Nobel Prize acceptance speech and go turn off that damn thing!"

He snapped his fingers in disappointment and looked around the room. "I'll never get that Nobel Prize if all I do is top secret work for the US Air Force," he mumbled begrudgingly.

"I should return to Dakara at once," Teal'c said, rising as well, "to convince the council to accelerate their deliberations."

"Good luck with that," O'Neill said with a genuine nod of hope. "You should probably all return to Earth now, organize your forces," he said to the Chinese and British ambassadors.

Everyone stood now and looked around the room. "I wish for the best outcome in this endeavor," Wells said, followed by an affirmative nod from Sheng. The General tapped away a couple of commands on his keypad and a moment and bright flash later, O'Neill and Young were the only people left in the room.

With that O'Neill plopped back into his seat with a groan. "I hate meetings." He looked up at Young and stared for a moment at his blank features. "I'd say you're lucky, but well, that would just be rubbing salt on a wound." Young maintained his calm countenance as the General rose and turned to look out the window by his chair. "Sometimes I just want to get away, somewhere far away. Maybe not as far as you," he said with a grin over his shoulder to the Colonel. "Retirement just keeps running from me, but I've got a place all picked out," he said, pointing out the window to a wide crater a few hundred meters away from the base. "I've figured the Air Force owns me one hell of a whopping pension, so I could have them build a dome over that, fill it up with water, make a nice beautiful lake out of it, get some fish in there…" He rambled the last part and stared out of the window looking old and tired of everything. "But not today," he said enthusiastically, turning to the Colonel and smiling. "Today, _we_ get to save the world again."

Young nodded in silence at the General. "Before you disconnect the stones, I do have one thing I'd like to request."

* * *

><p>Rush walked into the bridge and stopped for a moment when he saw all of the bridge crew gathered around and talking in calm, even tones. They all stopped when he entered and he looked at them incredulously. "Don't you all have something to be doing?"<p>

Eli grinned childishly at him. "No, not really." Rush sighed in response and walked to the central chair, taking a seat and checking some readings on the side consoles. "What have you been doing? No one's seen you in hours."

"Just some reading from _Destiny_'s database," he responded quickly, burying himself in the terminal.

"Anything interesting?" Brody asked suspiciously, inwardly cautious of anything Rush did in his spare time.

Rush paused for a moment in his work and stared down at the console. "Maybe," he answered quietly, and then looked up at Brody. "I'll let you know once I've finished." Brody raised his eyebrow at Rush but didn't pursue the line of inquiry any further. "When is Colonel Young due back?" Rush asked, staring at Young's body fully aware Telford was still there by the stiff posture, and how he oddly held the wounded arm that wasn't his.

"Any time now," Telford responded. He stared at the countdown clock above the doorway. "You know, I find it interesting that _Destiny_ gave us such a long window, right when we needed it," he said, glaring right at Rush.

"Oh yeah, and why's that?" the Scotsman returned coldly and carefully, reciprocating the same accusation that was just delivered to him.

"I'm just saying, control of _Destiny_ has been… supposedly locked out again," he said, leaning forward in his seat to look at the scientist. "Doesn't it seem odd that…"

"Just stop it, would you?" Wray interjected loudly, stepping up in between the two men. "Yes, we've had some unfortunate history on this ship," she said unwillingly, glancing to Rush and inwardly at herself, "but we're behind that now. You haven't been here among us, so you have no reason to judge anyone," she said coldly to Telford. He sighed and sat down, but didn't remove his eyes from Rush.

Wray loosened up and walked back languidly to the railing she had previously been leaning on. As she passed Rush, he reached out his arm to stop Wray. "Thank you," he said mildly, letting go at once.

She grinned in response. "Don't make me regret it."

Chloe rose from her seat and stood at Scott's side. "Maybe it would be a good idea to check out that planet," she offered.

"TJ and Greer are already there with a team," Scott returned, turning to look at her. "I'm sure they've got it covered."

"I know, but I'd just like to get out of here for a little," she replied with a hint of longing to escape, looking around the room like it was stifling here, "sit under the sun, and feel the breeze."

Scott nodded in return, understanding how she felt. "I'll come with you," he said after a moment. She smiled happily at the offer of company and they walked out of the bridge together.

Volker cleared his throat loudly. "Umm, you know, I've been on the ship a while too. Breathing recycled air," he stuttered. "That can't be good for your health." He glanced at Brody to confirm his statement, to which Brody returned an awkward nod to him, and then to Wray.

She chuckled to herself at them. "How's about we have a temporary shore leave," she offered, a slight glow shone on her face at the thought, "let everyone enjoy the sun for a while?"

Brody and Volker exchanged content looks and jogged off after Scott and Chloe. Eli followed excitedly as well. "I believe you have a diagnostic on the F.T.L due to me, Mr. Wallace," Rush said without looking away from his console. "I'd like it by the end of the day."

Eli turned to argue, but just sighed and pumped his fists angrily. "Evil… little man," he said, walking out slowly.

Wray watched them leave and shook her head with laughter. "See, there was a reason for _Destiny_ giving us so much time," she said comically to Telford.

At first he sighed, but the next second his countenance shifted and his body loosened. Wray went from laughing to professional in the blink of an eye. "Colonel Young?" she asked, more so as a formality even though she could recognize the change easily by now. He immediately rose from his seat and took a step to Wray, nodding as he did so. "Well… how did the meeting go?" Rush looked up from his work with half-hearted interest, but listened nonetheless.

"Good," he said, looking around the empty bridge. It seemed like he wanted to ask where everyone was but decided in the last moment he didn't care. "I'm going back in ten minutes, but we need to make preparations first. Get Scott and Varro to meet me in the communication lab," he said as he was walking out of the bridge.

"Umm, Scott just left the ship for the planet," Wray told him, following at his heel. She realized Scott was still here, but she also didn't want to spoil a good chance for him to relax.

"Get James then; I don't care who it is, as long as they have a gun," he said halfway down the hallway, his voice muffled by the time it reached them.

Wray gave a confused look to Rush who merely glanced at her and returned to his work. She grabbed her radio from her waist as she followed Young out of the room. "Lt. James, can you find Varro and bring him to the communication room?"

"Copy that," James responded over the radio as Wray left.

Rush sighed and shook his head, happy to be alone again. He stopped pressing buttons and reading the rapidly scrolling data after a moment. Gazing out the front windows, he looked at the stars quietly.

* * *

><p>Varro stood rigidly in the doorway of the communication room as James walked right past him. "You wanted to see us, Colonel Young?" he said calmly. The Colonel was seated and carefully restrained in a chair with Corporal Barnes at her station, a gun on the table next to her laptop.<p>

"Have a seat," he said, gesturing to the chair to his side.

Varro was a bit taken aback by what he saw, and therefore didn't move at first. "I'm not sure what's going on."

"I need you to join me in this operation," Young said, gazing at the countdown clock taking a mental note of how much time he was losing. "We'll be swapping with Lucian Alliance prisoners and infiltrating a base." He looked up respectfully and sincerely at Varro. "I couldn't think of anyone else I'd want by my side for this mission. You could provide invaluable information once we're in the base."

Varro looked at the Colonel with a look of worry. "I've been away from the Alliance for more than three years," he started, emphasizing the time difference. "Anything I knew about security and operations is obsolete by now."

"True, but you know _how_ to act," Young said reassuringly. "That can be a hell of a lot more useful than anything else." Varro looked unsurely at the Colonel, but in the end figured he was right and that if he could help he had to.

Still, part of Varro was uncomfortable with doing this. "I've changed on my time on _Destiny_. I just don't know if I can go back to them."

"You're tougher than that. You can do this." Young stared at him strongly, and Varro smirked, realizing he had no way to get out of this. He complied and sat down. "Lieutenant," he said to James, to which she responded by tying Varro's arms and legs to the seat tightly. "Now, you have to make sure you don't let these men escape. Have us sedated if the Alliance prisoners get too aggressive." James and Barnes both nodded in their understanding. "Also, Dr. McKay will have Dr. Ryder disconnected from the stones at any time. Bring her to the infirmary as soon as her signal is wiped from our stones."

"Understood, sir," Barnes said, plucking two stones and resting them each on Young's and Varro's hands to imprint their signal.

"Good luck," James wished with a smirk as Barnes put both of the stones on the pad, right below the third one holding Brooks on _Destiny_.

* * *

><p>"It just doesn't feel right," Varro said aloud as he looked out of the rectangular viewport of the <em>Hermes<em>' briefing room. The deep blue hyperspace vortex shined brightly and cast a bright, peaceful glow into the room. Only Young and Varro were there now as they were waiting for Lorne to join them.

"It's not the same," Young supported as he glanced at him.

"No. You can't make out the stars. It's suffocating. And the sound is wrong too," he commented on the pulsing hum of the _Hermes_ engines.

Young smirked as he listened to Varro. He never thought he would hear this man complain about anything, least of all a bit of different scenery. But he knew what he was talking about. You get used to things being one way, and it is noticeable when things change. Varro sighed and moved away from the window taking a seat at the table across from the Colonel. They looked at each other and at the Lucian Alliance uniforms they were wearing.

"I'll be perfectly frank," the Colonel said. "I don't know how you could wear this." He rubbed the sleeves and felt the material squeeze tightly at him with a cold, leathery feeling to it. He didn't know what alien animal was killed to make this uniform, but he couldn't understand how desperate someone would need to be to use this skin. Varro just shrugged, sitting comfortably in his uniform.

They sat in silence after that for a brief moment before the door hissed open and Lorne walked in.

He moved and promptly took a seat. "Sorry to have been so long," Lorne apologized.

"It's fine, Colonel," Young said. "We were just… talking about the view."

Lorne shrugged and turned on the screen behind his chair. "Yeah, it's kind of small, isn't it?" he said, taking a different approach to it than Young was meaning. "The _Hermes_ wasn't built to be spacious, so I guess we had some sacrifices along the way."

"How different is the _Hermes_ from the _Daedalus_-class battle cruisers?" Young asked from sheer curiosity. He had never had a chance to get any information about the ship, and only heard about it in quick passing remarks.

With a hum and whoosh, a figure of Dr. McKay appeared out of a blob of all the colors in the spectrum. "You should probably ask _me_ all questions about the X-305," he said in a slightly distorted voice.

Both Varro and Young stared agape at the figure in surprise. Lorne shook his head in irritation. "Colonel, Varro, this is our computer," he said in a tired voice.

"Haha, very funny," McKay said in a sarcastic tone, "you know I'm much more than that." He turned to face Young with an excited expression. "I am an actual _copy_ of Dr. McKay's consciousness that has been imprinted upon this ship's computer core using technology from P3X-989."

"Dr. McKay designed the computer for the _Hermes_ and left this," Lorne explained, waving his hand through the projection, heavily distorting the image, "as a present."

"I have been more useful that you care to admit," McKay said in defense, moving just out of reach of Lorne. "I exist as part of the ship and can do anything and everything the real Rodney McKay can do without fear of physical abuse or torture because I am a hologram." He added the last bit directly to Lorne with an incriminating look.

"Seriously? You're holding a grudge for that? It wasn't even you; it was you… you, the real _you_!" he stammered. "Okay, we're getting off topic here."

"Right, right right right. I was answering his question," he said quickly turning back to Young.

"There's no way to turn him off?" Young asked Lorne, looking around McKay.

Lorne shook his head. "None. Believe me, we've tried."

McKay's projection flickered as he looked annoyed. "I'm right here, you know. And I can't be turned off because I am integrated into the computer core. And besides, you never know what a friendly, computer interface could be needed in solving any of the problems you mere mortals might face," he said smugly, looking around with a smile. "Anyways, the 305 was specifically designed to operation in consort with the 304, like an escort. It's only fifty-six percent the mass of the 304, but has an increase of thirty-two percent in engine efficiency, making it incredibly fast in normal space, which makes up for its reduced arsenal and lack of 302s. However, it utilizes multiple, new Mark V Naquadria Generators, that I designed, which individually generate nearly 200% more than the prior model…"

"I get it," Young said. "She's fast and powerful." McKay looked disappointingly at the Colonel but just nodded and took a step back. Satisfied he had shut up the hologram, he turned to Lorne. "So, what's the plan of attack?"

Lorne casually entered a short command into his control pad and brought up a schematic of the target planet on the screen. "When we arrive in system, the _Hermes_ will drop out of hyperspace on the far side of this gas giant," he said, pointing to a large circle next to the target planet. "That should mask the hyperspace window from their sensors. Once in normal space we'll cloak and approach the target planet, P3X-616."

"This ship can cloak?" Varro asked, not remembering hearing about this capability during his time with the Alliance.

"Thanks to yours truly. I managed to reverse-engineer the cloak that Dr. Jackson installed on the _Odyssey_ during his tenure as an Ori prior. It has some advantages over the cloak I whipped up from the Puddle-Jumper, well the real me," the holographic McKay said with a moment of reflection, "whipped up, I should say, back on _Atlantis_."

This time the Colonel chose to ignore him, vividly recalling the mission reports he was referring to. "At which point you will beam us to the surface," he continued from where Lorne had left off.

"Exactly. We'll remain cloaked in orbit as long as it's safe. If by some chance we're detected then you'll be on your own until the rest of the task force arrives."

"Assuming everything works out well, you and I," Young said nodding to Varro, "will make our way into the base, take any data related to the wormhole drive or anything else Brooks provided them, and leave, hopefully without any alarms being raised."

Lorne pulled two small nondescript pins from his flight suit pocket and handed one to each of them. "These are transmitters that will allow us to locate you for a beam-out. Once you are on the surface just squeeze the ends until it beeps. If we're still in orbit, we'll transport you back at once." Varro quickly took the pin and stuck it on the breast of his uniform along with a few other adornments. The Colonel went along with him as Lorne brought up the next visual on the screen. "Now the hard part. You'll only have eighty minutes for this operation. Our task force isn't going to wait for you to finish. When they get here, they're coming guns blazing and destroying everything on the surface."

Young gave a satisfactory nod to the information. "Maybe this will give the Alliance a clear message."

"That's the idea."

"Just because we look like Lucian Alliance soldiers doesn't mean it'll be easy to get into the base," Varro said, voicing his concern. "Security tends to be very high in their bases, and this looks like a place they are very worried about keeping safe." He gestured to the multiple red dots indicating guarding mother ships.

"And that is why you're going to love me right now," McKay said enthusiastically, stepping up in front of the screen. "Well, not me. The real me; God there has to be an easier way to say this."

"What is it?" Young asked, not amused with McKay's ramblings.

"Right. When Colonel Telford was brainwashed by the Lucian Alliance his memories bled through to the people he connected with on the stones. Dr. Lam and I put our mutual fields of genius together and figured it all had to do with a unique neurotransmitter produced during the process. Isolating it was the tricky part, but since we've managed to produce enough for field use."

"So if this works, we'll be able to remember facts about the men we swapped with?" Varro said, feeling a bit of relief.

Young seemed interesting in this as well. "That sounds promising. What do you need to do?"

"Oh, we already injected you with it," McKay said casually, to which the Colonel reacted with worry. Predicting his concern, McKay spoke up before Young could inquire. "Don't worry; it's not dangerous and it'll only work on the body that was injected with the neurotransmitter. The Alliance muscle you swapped with won't recall anything about your lives."

The Colonel nodded slowly, still annoyed at not having been consulted before doing this to him. He glanced at Varro who seemed less upset by this than the Colonel. "Well, I don't feel like I know anything more about myself."

The projection shimmered again before McKay spoke. He pointed at Lorne before speaking. "What's his name?" Young frowned in response to which McKay huffed in aggravation. "What is his name?"

"Colonel Lorne."

"What's my name?" He stared at the ceiling in aggravation again. "The _real_ me's name?"

"Dr. McKay."

"And what's your name?"

"Neyal," he said without a moment of hesitation. It was a moment before he realized what he had just said.

McKay smiled widely and looked around the room with satisfaction before turning to Varro. "And your name?"

Varro looked around hesitantly before speaking uncomfortably. "Kaef."

The Colonel looked worriedly to the projection. "Is it permanent?"

"What?" McKay replied with surprise. "No, no, no, no. It shouldn't be," he added with a brief flicker of uncertainty which quickly vanished. "No, it only works on people that have the neurotransmitter and is triggered by a response to familiar stimuli: sound, smell, taste, looks, and instinctual responses."

Lorne rose from his seat and turned off the screen. "I think all the bases have been covered. We've got a few hours until we reach our target."

"Six hours, twelve minutes, and forty-one seconds, actually," McKay's projection corrected arrogantly. Lorne cast him a dark look, to which McKay responded to be faded out of existence with a quick hum.

"You guys should probably relax before we get there; get used to this," Lorne paused and gestured randomly at their minds, unsure what word to use, "memory… thing."

McKay fizzed back into existence. "The computer has videos and documents of Lucian Alliance bases. You can access them to acclimate to the memory recall process." He vanished immediately after that without Lorne's bidding.

Lorne sighed and walked to the door, slapping the keypad to open the door. "You heard the hologram," he said as he left the room.

* * *

><p>The door to the bridge whirred open, letting Young and Varro walk into the room. They were both geared up with a full arsenal of Lucian Alliance weaponry and added adornments to further increase their authenticity.<p>

Some of the bridge crew glanced at them as they entered and gave them nervous looks. Young could feel their hot gazes on him as they scrutinized all of the Lucian Alliance equipment. It was unsettling for him, but he didn't want to know how it felt for them, looking at the body of their enemy and trust him with a gun. Looks could be pretty powerful.

"We're almost at the planet," Colonel Lorne informed from his chair as they entered, not showing them the level of concern his crew was. "Figured it was a good time for you to get ready."

Young nodded at him in response and walked up to the viewport. Still all he could see was the pulsing blue waves from hyperspace. "That's fine, Colonel."

"Approaching the coordinates, sir," the helmsman announced.

"Alright then. Take us out of hyperspace, Major Wagner."

The view from the front window became incredibly bright for a moment, and then was replaced by a dull red haze. None of the usual disorientation came over Young as he was accustomed to on the _Destiny_, which disorientated him more than the actual disorientation.

"Status, Major."

Wagner took a moment to answer, surveying over his console first. "We're three kilometers inside the gas giant's ionosphere."

"Have we been detected?"

"I can't say for certain," Wagner said after a pause, tapping away on his console without learning anything. "Sensors can't get a clear reading past the ionosphere."

Lorne wobbled his head lightly. "Let's hope that means they can't read anything either. Take us into stealth mode and get her out of here."

"Aye, sir," Wagner responded swiftly. A moment later a shimmer appeared outside the window and the bridge lights dimmed to a dull blue. "Silent running mode engaged; cloak active. I'm taking us out of the atmosphere."

Young could feel the deck plates beneath him quake, but the view remained the same dull red. It wasn't sure to him if they were actually going anywhere. A few seconds later though, the red started to thin out, and another few seconds later he could see a black backgrounds dotted with stars.

"Can you get a clear sensor reading now?"

"Yes, sir. I'm reading the Lucian Alliance fleet in orbit of the planet, bearing two-six-three by one-zero-nine, range ninety-seven million kilometers. It doesn't look like they saw us," Wagner reported with a relieved tone.

"Very good. Lay in a course and take us in, full sublight," Lorne ordered, leaning on the side console of his chair.

Wagner quickly keyed in a set of commands. "Full sublight, aye. ETA is fifteen minutes."

"Guess you've got a little bit more waiting to do," Lorne commented. Young crossed his arms and kept his eyes fixed ahead of him. The stars turned wildly as the ship spun around on a course for the planet. Once they stabilized, the gas giant's red glow dominated the starboard side of the ship and cast an eerie light across the nose of the ship. Far off in the distance, straight above the tip of the nose, Young watched a dot that was larger than any of the surrounding stars.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, the Colonel's view was filled by a large planet whose surface was covered mostly with green forests and occasional patches of blue seas and oceans. In front of the planet, Young had the choice to watch Ha'taks, Al'kesh bombers, or Death Gliders as all of them were dotting the space between the _Hermes_ and the planet.

"Henderson, give me a sitrep," Lorne said to his weapons officer.

"All railgun positions are on standby, and all warheads are ready for immediate launch, sir," Henderson replied in a quick, professional manner, checking off all the weapons as he spoke.

Lorne nodded with a satisfied expression. "So far so good. Doctor," he summoned, looking to the empty floor space near the viewport. The projection of Dr. McKay pulsated to life right at that spot; clearly this had been a rehearsed appearance.

"Whatcha need from me, Colonel?" he started casually.

"Are we in beaming range yet?" Lorne asked with strained patience.

"Depends. If you want them to materialize on a cloud, sure," McKay smiled. Reading Lorne's deadpan expression, he quit the joking. "Just pull her in another few kilometers and we'll be fine."

Wagner turned in his seat to face Lorne. "Sir, if I do that we risk getting too close to the Alliance ships. They could detect us."

The hum of the engines died and the lights dimmed even further. "I've brought us down to fifty percent power. Any chance of them detecting our energy signature is gone," McKay explained.

Lorne took a breath and nodded to the Major. "Move us in closer, right under her belly," he ordered, gesturing to the nearest mother ship with his hand. He also figured being that close could lend him an opportunity for a quick kill.

The helmsman looked reluctant for a split second, but did not ignore the order. He returned to his post and within a moment the ship was slowly creeping towards the mother ship. Wagner was very careful as he steered the ship to the exact position the Colonel had pointed to. The gold hue of the pyramid structure menacingly took up most of the viewport, encouraging all of the crew to speak in a hushed tone, as if that would keep them safe. "How's this, Doc'?" Lorne said, in a quiet voice like everyone else.

McKay looked up at Lorne from the floor where he had been fixated on the seam lines. "Hmm? Oh this'll be fine."

"Alright, you know the plan. You have no more than eighty minutes to get this done," Lorne reminded Young and Varro.

"Don't worry, we'll handle ourselves," Young responded. Varro walked up to him from the spot by the door where he had been waiting quietly.

"Good luck," Lorne wished.

Young saw McKay wave his arms in his peripheral vision, and the next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of a dense forest with Varro by his side. "Let's go," he said, and following his instinct, he marched off in the direction of the fading sun.

* * *

><p>As soon as the 302 in front of his went flying out of the <em>Odyssey<em>'s hangar bay, Telford snapped his air mask on and hit the afterburner on his fighter, following the first one. He flew alongside the _Odyssey_'s nose for a brief second before pulling hard left towards the darkened Earth as they were on the far side of the planet now. The atmosphere wisped around the nose of the fighter as he plummeted straight down. Around him he saw the silhouettes of the other seven fighters form up and follow him in.

"Whiskey team, we've got three targets located with the continental US and three more abroad," O'Neill informed over the patchy headphones. "We'll be taking care of the trash in our backyard. The British, Russian, and Chinese governments are launching attacks on the Alliance ships in their regions simultaneously, so none of the bad guys get a fair warning. According to the intel, they have ships ready to strike the Pentagon, the SGC, and Area 51."

"Copy that, _Selene_," Telford said into his mic. "I'll cover the Pentagon. Whiskey Two, form up on me." He pulled his fighter into a dive straight for the east coast as he said that. From his altitude he could make out nighttime lights of the entire western hemisphere, but it was rapidly getting more selective.

"Roger that, Leader." The fighter to his left broke off the rest of the group with him and took up a position twenty meters next to him.

"Whiskeys Four and Five, watch my six. We'll get the SGC," Whiskey Three announced over the radio. Both of them sounded acknowledgments a moment later.

"Whiskeys Seven and Eight, guess we drew the short straw. Full burn for Nellis base," said Whiskey Six. Again, both the Whiskeys responded affirmatively. The entire squadron broke into the three groups and flew off to their respective targets.

The static crackled over the headphones for a moment and then Colonel Davidson spoke. "The _Odyssey_ had adjusted its sensors to overcome the Alliance scattering fields. We'll track the ships for you until you are within visual range."

"Much appreciated, _Odyssey_," Telford said.

"Unfortunately, any conventional strike would most likely lead to the detonation of the naquadah bombs." As the General was speaking, Telford passed through the upper atmosphere and could now hear the loud whining of the 302's engines. "The plan is to beam to a safe distance from Earth and let the _Odyssey_ take them out there where no one will get hurt. Problem is their ships are jamming us from transport. Your fighters have been equipped with a special tag launcher that'll allow us to get a lock on the ship. Just stick them with it and the _Odyssey_ will take care of the rest."

"Copy that, General," Telford said, quickly resounded by the rest of the Whiskey Team.

He heard some excited commotion and a cacophony of applause across the feed to the _Selene_. "Don't mean to hurt your pride boys, but the Chinese just got their target." Within a split second of O'Neill giving the news, Telford saw a red light shine on the darkened clouds and felt his fighter tremble slightly. The line was filled with static for a few more seconds before the General returned. "One down; just don't let the Russians beat us," he begged sincerely.

Telford nodded to no one in particular. He turned to look at the fighter to his side and flashed a thumbs up to Whiskey Two. "Let's get those bastards." His 302 roared to life as he pushed the throttle down as far as it would go, cruising straight for Washington. He could barely feel himself pulling any Gs, even though he was accelerating like crazy; one of the perks of flying a fighter augmented with alien technology.

It wasn't hard at all to fly to DC as the lights guided him so perfectly. All the city lights were on, and it made DC and Baltimore look as if they were two points where glass had been hit hard and splintered, leaving cracks running between them. It was that spot of cracked glass that he needed to protect.

"Whiskey Leader, we've picked up your target on our sensors," Colonel Davidson said aboard the _Odyssey_. "It's on the move about forty kilometers west of the capitol. We're sending you the coordinates."

The radar screen in front of him beeped as he received the information. A small blimp appeared in the far corner. "Roger that, we've acquired the target. Whiskey Two, follow my lead."

He arced the ship left and lined up his ship with the small dot. The landscape was already getting larger and the lights were becoming more distinct by the second. According to the information, he was within thirty kilometers of the ship. As he kept the throttle pushed down, he watched the distance close quickly. It wasn't long before he could see the ship.

"Command, I have a visual on the target," Telford said at once, eying the small gray pyramid ship as it inched across the background. "Single cargo ship; looks like it's on its way to the capitol now. I'm intercepting."

Telford pulled his fighter level with the cargo ship and then flattened and slowed his approach. He didn't want to overshoot his target. He was coming at it from the right, but within a matter of seconds, the cargo ship turned to line up with him. The pyramid silhouette grew quickly and menacingly towards him. An angry beep flooded the cockpit. "They've locked on their weapons," Telford informed loudly.

Bright orange bolts of energy illuminated the darkened communities below them and flew right towards him. Without a thought, he barrel rolled his fighter to the right to dodge the weapon's fire. The cargo ship went screaming past him as he leveled his craft.

"Whiskey Leader, you alright over there?" Whiskey Two asked.

"He missed. Get on his tail!" he barked, pulling his fighter up and curving it sharply to the left, swiftly bringing himself level with his target.

The targeting reticle appeared on the canopy as Telford armed the tracker launcher. He closed in and held his fighter steady as the cargo ship weaved around. The tree tops and occasional lights from houses sped by below him, and he could see his wingman through the corner of the canopy, closing in on the target. He took a breath, lined up the shot, and watched the reticle turn red. "Taking the shot."

He squeezed his trigger down and heard a pop as the launcher mounted on the port wing fired, the tracker flying across the night sky. A flurry of sparks exploded from the aft of the cargo ship where the tracker dug into the hull. The ship immediately burst into a ball of burning white light and vanished.

Telford pulled his fighter and pointed straight for the stars, easing up on the throttle. He pulled his air mask off and let out a deep breath. "_Odyssey_, this is Whiskey Leader. Confirm a kill on the cargo ship."

Staring at the black sky he could make out a thousand stars, and he knew one of those pin pricks of light was the _Odyssey_, but he had no idea which one. It didn't matter, because within a moment another bright light appeared in the sky. It lingered for a moment and then faded. "Roger that, Whiskey Leader. Another target down."

Nodding in success, he slowed the fighter even more and leveled it with the horizon pointing eastward. He gazed out to the coastline and pointed his nose to the broken glass of Washington. Whiskey Two kept heading straight up, back to the stars. "Running on low fuel here. I'll head on back to the _Odyssey_."

"Copy. I'll take another fly-by over the city before I had back," Telford announced calmly.

"Roger that," Davidson replied calmly over the radio. "We've neutralized the Russian and SGC targets as well. I think we can all breathe easy now."

* * *

><p>"You sure we're heading the right way?" Young asked as they walked on through the sunny woods. They'd been on the move for at least forty minutes, and Young only saw that as time lost from an already short timescale.<p>

"We were beamed outside of the base's sensor perimeter. We probably have a little while to go before we reach the entrance to the mine," Varro said, determinedly heading towards the sun, turning to look at the Colonel, "but yes, we are heading in the right direction."

Young sighed but followed right after him. "Is it working? Do you remember anything about this place?"

He nodded without looking at Young this time. "It feels familiar" he answered shortly. He sped up his pacing but didn't run.

"What's wrong?" Young asked, stopping in his tracks. Varro proceeded a few extra steps until he realized the Colonel wasn't moving. "You've been quiet and… uncomfortable this whole time. Does it bother you to be here?"

Varro didn't answer, just pointing urgently to the sun. "We shouldn't be wasting our time. It'll jeopardize the mission."

"No. What'll jeopardize the mission is me walking into enemy territory with a man who is not fit to fight. Now, if there's something on your mind, then get it out now." Young stayed his ground, letting his gun hang on its strap, crossing his arms.

"We should just get this mission over with and return to _Destiny_." He rested on a boulder and watched Young's resolute expression, looking to the sun but not moving. Finally he sighed and spoke up. "Look, I know you brought me here because you thought I could help. And I wish I could, but those people aren't me anymore. I can't relate to them, being back here with them. You would've been better off taking Scott or anyone else."

Young looked him in the eyes and just stared for a moment, trying to read him. "I didn't bring you because I thought you could provide information. I brought you because you're one of the best soldiers I have on that ship. You don't hesitate, and you've proven you can make the right decision." As he said that, he gestured to his arm where his real body was injured. Varro got the reference. "I brought you because I trust you, and because I need you."

Varro didn't respond. He just looked at the Colonel with a blank expression, trying to figure if he was being sincere or just motivating him to get his act together. Whichever it was, he got the message. "You can count on me, Colonel."

"I know I can. Now, let's go." This time he was leading the way, but didn't get far before a loud buzz sounded nearby.

They both raised and cocked their weapons and took up positions by some of the thick trees nearby. Gazing ahead of them, the source of the sound was easily identified. The thick outline of a circle had appeared in the earth, and with a powerful hum five rings jutted from the ground, stopping underneath each other. A bright light passed through the rings leaving five men within their confines before returning the ground to its previous pristine condition.

The five men walked out of the rings' range and wielded their weapons. They all looked towards the tree line Young and Varro were hiding behind. "Show yourselves!" the lead soldier yelled.

The Colonel glanced hopefully at Varro. "Let's hope this works." He stepped up from the shadow of the tree and donned a serious expression. "What is this?" he yelled at the lead, flailing his weapon around, but taking care not to aim it at anyone. Varro moved from behind the tree and followed behind the Colonel, maintaining a similar attitude.

The soldier seemed taken aback at Young's bluntness and Lucian Alliance uniform. Obviously he expected something different. Still, he persisted. "Identify yourselves, now!"

Young sighed in aggravation. "I'm Neyal. That's Kaef. We're here with Bakara's third division," he said completely out of nowhere. It took him off guard a little, but he didn't show it.

"He sent us to get a personal update on Danar's research," Varro said, shrugging at himself inwardly, not having any idea what he was talking about. However, the name Bakara he knew, and he cringed at it silently.

The lead soldier looked even more confused than at first, and had lowered his weapon by now. "He… he didn't inform us you were coming."

"Why would he? Last time he told you a team was coming, you did a nice job of cleaning up the evidence from your little accident," he said, using whatever tidbits of information that popped at him from seeing this man to intimidate him. "He wanted the truth this time, without you preparing for our arrival."

"Right, of course," he said, wincing at the reference to something that was clearly a bad memory. "I'll show you in personally." He walked over to where the rings had disappeared and stood waiting for them. Young hesitated but Varro walked over immediately. They both stopped by his side. The soldier lost his confused expression and instead donned an excited look. "I think you'll find the ship to be quite impressive."

Young's heart stopped. It was a moment before he felt his pulse return, and when it did it was racing. "Ship?" he asked in too weak a voice.

The soldier frowned at him but ignored the changed tone. "Yes. The necessary structural modifications are complete, and the drive is being worked on. We'll finally get there, just like we deserved," he said, pressing a button on his uniform's sleeve. He smiled widely as the rings activated and dematerialized the three of them.

* * *

><p>"How is she looking, Doctor?" McKay asked Dr. Lam as she walked into the room with a chart of Major Brooks' test results. They had kept her in the warehouse just in case she wasn't safe to move, and had brought a doctor and lab full of equipment to her.<p>

"Well, I'm finding a large quantity of a sedative in her blood work," she answered, reading right off of her papers. "They must have had her out the whole time."

"Isn't that bad?" McKay asked, having had more than a passing experience with a wide array of sedatives. All he could remember is his childhood doctor refusing to give him too much sedative after he had to get his arm stitched up. McKay must have complained about that for hours until his parents finally begged the doctor to give him some more.

Lam shrugged and walked up to the monitor. "Depends, but this must be some drug they brought from offworld; I don't recognize the compounds in it. I'm still running it through the lab though. They were feeding her through an IV drip, so she isn't malnourished at least." She pulled a syringe from her lab coat pocket and injected a small amount of the contents into the IV drip. "This should help to neutralize the sedative, help her wake up soon." Carefully capping the syringe, she returned the cartridge to her pocket.

"Huh, well that's good." McKay turned back to his laptop and clacked away furiously, editing a large section of the code controlling the stone's function.

She noticed his work and walked to him, leaving her charts on the tray by the bed Brooks was on. "How goes it on your end?"

"Hmm? Oh, almost done actually. The macro that controls the operations of the stones controlled multiple systems to make sure nothing happened to the connection. I had to work at disabling them one at a time so we can safely get this done," he said triumphantly, taking a pause from his work to look over at Dr. Lam with a grin. "I put a _fine_ amount of work into this thing in the first place." Lam scoffed at his suggestion and walked out of the plastic clean room, heading to the portable lab that was set up next to it. He sighed sadly but returned to his code. After a bit of a donut and another minute of typing, the communication panel successfully turned off. "Yes! Oh I love it when things work for me." McKay turned to the security officer that was posted at the entrance. "You can tell General O'Neill that the connection is successfully broken, and that I have yet _again_ proven my usefulness to this program," he informed haughtily. One of the things he had decided to do was to leave the subspace transmitter outside of the clean room. There was just no room for it in the clean room. Also, he knew from experience that giving his superiors easy communication access to him would mean they would never stop bothering him.

"Yes, Doctor," he said, turning to leave. Pausing, he pointed to Brooks. "What about her?"

McKay frowned at looked annoyed at the soldier. "What about her? She's unconscious and more drugged up than I was in college. Look, just go. Go go go go," he urged, almost pushing the Air Force officer out of the clean room.

Alone, he let out a content breathe and walked to his laptop. He closed it and started to pack up all of his equipment. By the time he had closed up the second box, he heard a smash behind him. Startled, he jumped up and turned to see Brooks sitting up, clutching her head with the tray knocked over on the ground.

He let out an audible gasp of air. "Oh thank God, it's just you."

Brooks looked around with a dazed expression. "Wha…? Whe…?" she slurred out.

"Okay... so not unconscious. Major, everything is okay," he slowly said, walking up to her. She looked up at him, her eyes wide. "We've disconnected the stones. You're coming off of some pretty strong sedatives, but you'll be fine."

Brooks shook her head a light at first, but then more aggressively. "No. No, I won't let you… I won't let you!"

"What? Won't let me what?" he asked, backing away from her. He recognized her reaction as the first sign of someone that was about to go ape on him.

"NO!" She threw herself out of the bed right at McKay. They fell to the ground and as he feebly tried to slap her off of him, she hoisted up the heavy box he had just packed and hit him hard across the head with it.

* * *

><p>Once the light subsided and the rings were back in the ceiling, Varro and Young were left in a lowly lit, stone walled hallway with their Lucian escort. Around a half dozen other Lucian soldiers and workers casually looked up from their posts, apparently accustomed to the loud rings. "Follow me. I'll show you to Danar," their escort said. He strolled down the hall, with Varro and Young following close behind.<p>

Young was having flashes of images hit him as he walked down the corridor. Clearly Neyal was a good choice to have swapped with as he seemed to have a detailed knowledge of this facility. The Colonel hoped that would help him out some more for the rest of the operation.

They walked through the wide tunnels for a few minutes in silence before their escort spoke again. "I know Bakara is pushing for results on this project, but can't he just trust the reports we send him?"

"Just show us the ship and we'll be on our way soon enough," Varro said gruffly. He didn't want to betray himself by saying something wrong, and he knew a powerful attitude could cut a conversation short. Generally the people he knew in the Alliance weren't very chatty.

"It's right up through here," he responded with a look of disdain, gesturing to a gilded door at the end of the hall. Stopping at a Goa'uld security panel by the door, he typed in a sequence that Young made sure he remembered, just in case. The door opened, grinding across the floor paneling.

The room on the other side was quite literally a cave. It extended high up, and as Young walked in he could make out a source of natural light at the top. Scattered around the cave floor were dozens of computers, generators, and tabletops containing a plethora of high-tech equipment. The various devices were all in different stages of completion, some being fully crafted together, and others having components lying across the table. The center of the cave housed a monstrous Al'kesh sitting atop a large platform which allowed access to its underbelly. Dozens of scientists and workers were milling about the room, too busy with their tasks to notice the three men saunter in.

"Definitely _looks_ like you're keeping busy here," Varro said, craning his head around to look at all of the operations going on in the cave.

"How far along is the drive?" Young asked directly.

The escort scoffed at the question. "Well, when it's still in the development, but that much you can tell from the reports."

"We've been reading the reports for a long time now, and this still say that," Varro growled, working to intimidate him. "What we want is to hear that it's ready."

"Let me take you inside. You can talk to Danar. He'll explain everything better than I can." He led them through the cave to a point straight underneath the Al'kesh. Pressing the ring activator on his sleeve again, the belly of the ship opened and deployed the rings.

Once within the ship, they were plunged into an ornate and illuminated chamber consistent of Goa'uld architecture. The gold and patterned walls surrounded them. They followed the Lucian soldier to the engine room, where a sole engineer was working. "Where's Danar?" the soldier addressed loudly. The engineer rose from the large device he was working at. He was a young man and looked nervous around three soldiers. "Some of Bakara's men here want to talk to him."

"He had to go to storage," he said meekly. "He was missing a piece of coupling."

"Just go find him," the soldier responded haughtily, not caring about his explanation. "Tell him he's need here, now."

The engineer nodded and ran off quickly, looking very scared. Young made a mental remark, surprised to meet a member of the Alliance that wasn't tough and arrogant.

"Actually, we just want to take a look around, on our own, please," Young stated with authority, barely putting any sincerity into it.

The Lucian officer subtly brandished his weapon. "Can't do that. I don't care who Bakara sends, I'm not letting them out of my sight."

Young sighed and turned to Varro. "Sorry to hear that."

Catching the hint, Varro closed the distance between him and the Lucian soldier in a heartbeat. He tried to raise his weapon against Varro, but Varro slapped it out of his hands. Grabbing him by the neck of his uniform and lifting him in the air, he slammed him backwards hard. There was a crack as the soldier's head impacted the thick bulkhead. When Varro released him, the body fell to the floor with a dull thud.

Neither one of them seemed to care too much about the man Varro probably just killed. Instead, they both looked over at the large device that they assumed to be the wormhole drive. "This changes our plans," Young said. "We didn't know they had gotten this far along. If we could finish the design, Earth could finally supply us. Can you pilot this ship?"

Varro nodded. "Absolutely." He hefted the soldier onto his shoulder and carried him out of the engine room. "I'll lock him up," he said, splitting up to find a place for him. Opening one of the doors into the cargo hold he threw the man in. Taking his weapon he fired a trio of shots at the inner door panel. The lights on it flickered for a second before it exploded in a flurry of sparks. Closing it from the outside, he left the cargo hold. He met with the Colonel in the cockpit after he was done. "We should probably leave now."

"No," Young countered, sitting in the co-pilot's chair. "If we leave now then we'll expose the _Hermes_ and the attack. We still have surprise on our side, and that keeps the odds in our favor."

He sighed affirmatively. Leaning to look out of the window, he gazed cautiously at the flock of people outside. "But we can't stay here too long. They'll figure out something is wrong here soon enough."

"Right. We just need to wait a while," he said, mentally calculating that they had around a half hour left, "then we can go." Varro quietly agreed and sat down in the pilot's chair, ready to go on a moment's notice. "Who is that... Bakara you brought up? Is he someone important?" Young asked him, having wondered quietly ever since he mentioned the name.

Varro stared reflectively at the workers outside. "By the time I left for the invasion on _Destiny_, he was one of the fastest rising officers in the Lucian Alliance ranks. He was known for his brutality, both with his enemies and his own people that didn't... show their full worth." He grinned in disgust at the thought of the man. "If he's a powerful figure in the command structure, then we need to be careful."

Young looked over at him, comprehending his warning. "Just gets better and better."

* * *

><p>As the sixth and final red marker vanished from the screen, the entire CIC aboard the <em>Selene<em> went crazy. Officers threw papers in the air and shook hands. O'Neill stood in the center of the room maintaining a level expression. It wasn't good form if the commander showed too much emotion. "Whiskey team, you did good out there." He turned to the smaller side screens where the international ambassadors appeared, with a woman replacing Danilko's place. O'Neill already liked her over Danilko. "Thanks for the assistance. This wouldn't have worked without your cooperation." All of them nodded and voiced their acknowledgment. After that they all vanished from the screens.

"Sir, the task force has given us a final update; they're thirty minutes out from the target planet," one of the officers said reading a message off of his screen.

Before he could respond another officer called loudly from his terminal, holding his hand to his earpiece. "General O'Neill, Dr. McKay is on the line. It sounds urgent."

O'Neill sighed and gestured lazily to the screen. "Put him up."

The officer nodded and punching a short command. A bleeding McKay appeared flanked by Dr. Lam. This was not the image that O'Neill had been expecting. "What happened? I was just about to congratulate you on _not_ messing anything up!"

"Brooks escaped!" he blurted out, clutching a spot on his forehead from where the blood was streaming from.

"What?" O'Neill shouted, the entire room falling silent yet again as the technicians and officers sensed the agitation. They all returned to their stations, realizing gravely their job wasn't over. "I just heard not _ten_ minutes ago that she was out like a light!"

Lam stepped into the center of the screen as McKay moved aside to nurse his head. "General, I was looking over the toxicology report for the Major. I recognized one of the compounds in the sedative mixture they were giving her was a psychotropic drug."

"How could know that? I was told all the compounds were foreign."

"Not this one, sir. I recognized the chemical structure immediately," she said in a worried tone. "It's an Earth drug. Someone would have needed to supply them with it though. Dr. MacKenzie developed it for the SGC; you can't just buy that at the local drug store."

O'Neill flushed angrily as he heard that. He had an immediate idea who supplied them, and didn't doubt that he was right. "That was what made her attack McKay?"

"Yes, sir, I believe so. She's been given large doses of the drug over a long time period. The injection I gave her negated the effects of the sedative which was abating the drug. Without it, a large amount of the drug shocked her system." She moved in closer to the camera on her end and spoke very urgently. "General, she is very dangerous in her current condition. She is paranoid delusional, most likely experiencing hallucinations, and is probably unresponsive to most stimuli. If she's not found quickly, the shock could be fatal."

"Do we know where she went?"

McKay returned to the center of the screen, now with a blood-stained towel on his head. "She commandeered the cargo ship that was left here."

"I told you to secure that ship!" the General yelled, wondering why he told people to do things if it never helped in the long run.

"I was busy with other things!" the Canadian returned defensively, flushing red across his checks and panicking. "Someone had to turn off the stones, and that seemed like a priority at the moment. I mean, how was a supposed to know someone was going to hijack the thing?"

O'Neill was ready to yell some more at him, but decided to save it for later. He turned to the nearest officer and walked towards him. "Scan around the DC region. If she's in the air we should be able to find her."

"Yes, sir." He pulled up satellite telemetry for the area and within a quick moment was able to find the cargo ship, the only source of a large amount of naquadah in the Earth's atmosphere. "I have her, sir. Target is over the Atlantic right now and… correction, she's pulling straight up."

"If she's trying to escape that is very, very bad," McKay warned, having listened to the conversation. "She still has all the knowledge about the wormhole drive, and everything else. We can't risk her leaving."

"Agreed. Transport her out of there," O'Neill ordered quickly.

An aggravating beep came from the console a moment after the officer attempted to comply. "There's a scattering field in place around the cargo ship. We can't get a lock."

O'Neill clenched his fists. "Have the _Odyssey_ intercept and disable her."

The officer shook his head. "_Odyssey_ is on the other side of the planet. They wouldn't make an intercept before she escaped the atmosphere." He looked back to his screen and added on. "Colonel Telford is still in the sky, sir."

"Good, put him through."

* * *

><p>"Roger that, sir," Telford said in response to the General. He had just been informed about the situation involved Major Brooks. Strapping his air mask back into place, he pointed his fighter to the stars and hit the throttle hard. A light yellow glow was coming through the canopy as the sun had started to rise. "I'm on an intercept course."<p>

"Understood. Same drill as before. Tag her and the _Odyssey_ will bring her aboard."

Telford saw the dot on the far end of his radar, which told him he needed to punch it. He passed through cloud after cloud on the way up and felt his engines roar until he cleared the top of the clouds. Ahead of him he saw the familiar shape of a small pyramid. "I have her in my sights. Still too far out for a clear shot."

* * *

><p>"Sir, she's out of the atmosphere," an officer alerted O'Neill. "She can jump to hyperspace at any time now."<p>

"Dammit! Colonel," he said, speaking into his earpiece, "your window of opportunity is almost gone. Tell me that you have a lock."

Static was on the line for a tense second. "Negative, sir. She's still out of range for the tag."

O'Neill watched the tactical overlay on the screen with anxiety. It wasn't until a moment later that he realized he was still watched the red dot veer away from Earth. "Why's she still here?" he said aloud to no one in particular.

"General!" the officer announced in a panicky voice, answering his question for him. "The cargo ship is on a collision course for the _Selene_!"

"Are the shields up?" he asked urgently, almost having to shout as the room returned to its previous state of chaos as officers were running to various stations and calling across to each other.

McKay's face returned to the screen before he could get an answer. "General, I've been monitoring the situation, and the shields aren't going to matter. She's on a course for a spot beyond the shield's range. It's an earthquake bomb!"

"A what...?" he exclaimed. "What the hell do you mean?"

The scientist sighed in exasperation and began explained with a blend of words and hand gestures. "Major Brooks specialized in unconventional weapon design years ago. I remember an idea for a naquadah earthquake bomb she developed that would cause secondary explosions in the naquadah present on most planets. It was rejected but still quite ingenious actually…"

"McKay!" he yelled, getting the scientist back on track.

"Sorry. Her cargo ship is accelerating rapidly towards the lunar surface. The course will have her hit straight on. Depending on shield and structural strength, the ship will force its way _into_ the crust before it explodes. The shields on the base won't protect you against the earthquake… or I should say moonquake."

"Can't we just extend the shield's range?" O'Neill asked, voicing what seemed to be a very simple solution.

"Sure, but she'd just be able to punch through it. We'd be sacrificing strength for area," he explained. "She's just too far out from the perimeter."

He turned desperately to another officer. "Hail her. Tell her to stand down, and that we're here to help."

The officer nodded and conveyed the message. A moment later she looked back up and shook her head. "She's not responding."

"Well I'd like someone to give an idea!" he shouted to the room.

* * *

><p>"Don't worry, General," Telford said into his earpiece, having heard all of the news as everyone had been speaking loudly. "I'm gaining on her now. I'll be in range to tag her before she reaches the <em>Selene<em>."

"Roger that, Whiskey One," O'Neill said with a small breath of relief.

He was out of the atmosphere as well at this point, gaining steadily on her ship. The moon was right there in front of her ship, getting larger by the minute. It was a few minutes before the cargo ship was large in his view. Finally, the reticle activated and turned red almost immediately, as Brooks wasn't trying to weave or evade him at all. "I'm taking the shot, _Odyssey_," he informed. As soon as he clicked the trigger though, an alarm sounded in the cockpit. A red text box appeared on his targeting screen reading 'Launch Failure'. "Dammit!" he swore loudly.

"Repeat, Colonel," O'Neill beckoned urgently. "Did you take the shot?"

Telford pulled off his air mask in aggravation. "Negative, sir. My launcher is failing to fire. Orders, sir?"

"All the other 302s are too far out to help," the General said. Static dominated the line for a minute, in which Telford gained some more ground.

"Orders?" he asked again, taking the pause to not mean anything good.

"Colonel, you're weapons free. Take a shot if you can."

"Sir?" he questioned. "Confirm, do you want me to destroy the target?"

His answer was static for a moment while O'Neill was fighting to make his decision on the base. "Affirmative, Colonel."

Telford took an uncomfortable breath. "Sir, shouldn't I try to disable her engines?"

"That won't stop her from her course," McKay shouted over the radio. "Her momentum is just too great to affect her trajectory, and she's too close to the base right now. She'll still impact with the _Selene_."

"I'm sorry to do this, Colonel," O'Neill said regrettably, "but I am _ordering_ you to take the shot."

"I understand." Putting his mask back on, he unlocked his missiles and prepared an AIM-120 AMRAAM, leaving any thoughts not related to the task at hand behind him. "I'm within weapons range; lining up the shot." The moon was getting large now behind the cargo ship, as if it was trying to prove McKay's previous statement. The faint outline of the _Selene_'s building was visible at this point further stressing the urgency of the moment. Once again, the reticle blinked red almost immediately. Telford didn't wait. "Fox three!"

He tapped the trigger and was rewarded by a successful missile launch. A trail of thick smoke followed in the wake of the long metal projectile, heading straight for the cargo ship. The distance was closed quickly. In the last second before the missile hit, the ship finally weaved to the right, but it was too late. The missile struck right in the center of the hull in a fiery explosion. A second, larger explosion came within a second of the first, ripping the hull of the ship apart into millions of pieces, some large and others small. The debris flew in every single direction, quickly leaving nothing behind as Telford soared through the wreckage.

In a downcast manner, he removed his mask for the last time. "Target destroyed, sir," he said simply, filled with regret at having had to kill a fellow soldier.

"Roger that, Colonel." O'Neill sounded equally distraught at having lost one of his people, and even more so at having had to order another soldier to kill her. "Head on back to the _Odyssey_. There's nothing more for us to do here."

* * *

><p>Lorne stared nervously at the HUD over the viewport. It read with less than four minutes until the task force arrived. "Still nothing from them?"<p>

"Negative, sir. I'm not reading their transmitters," Wagner replied.

Sighing, Lorne moved around the helm station and sat in his chair. "Understood. Major Henderson, watch for hyperspace windows. If you read friendly IFF, engage this target with all main batteries. I don't want to give them any chance to react."

"Aye, sir," he responded, setting up his terminal to prepare for the attack.

"Major Wagner, punch it to full sublight as soon as she's disabled. Let's leave her a little present as well. Prep a Mark VIII for launch with a ten second timer. Fire as soon as we move away."

"Copy, sir," Wagner answered. Both he and Henderson confirmed codes for a nuclear launch. The clock was now less than three minutes.

Lorne sat patiently in his seat, staring at the Goa'uld mother ship that was visible on the other side of the transparent HUD. With one minute left on the clock the numbers turned a bright red color. Pausing for another second, Lorne turned back to Wagner. "Do we even know if they made it into the base?"

"Negative, sir. I can't read anything within their scattering field," he apologized. A furious beeping sounded throughout the bridge. "Detecting multiple hyperspace windows opening, sir!" Wagner announced. The clock on the HUD was replaced by a tactical overlay. Three pulsating dots showed the locations he was talking about. One by one, they were replaced by pale blue dots with data displayed above them. "Reading friendly IFF from them. It's the task force; bearing one-six-eight by zero-one-one; range three hundred kilometers."

"Engage!" The ships decloaked at once with a buzz and the HUD vanished, leaving the pyramid structure fully visible. The bridge lights came back on and were compounded with a blaring klaxon.

Dull pops reverberated through the bulkheads of the _Hermes_ as the railguns batteries opened fire. Streams of the projectiles burned across space and pounded through the weak armor of the Goa'uld ship as the _Hermes_ was within the shield perimeter. Explosions jutted out from across the entire underbelly of the ship. Some of the slugs slammed through into the Glider bay and pealed the hull apart from the secondary explosions. The barrage only lasted for a few seconds, but the damage was extensive.

"All her major systems are disabled, sir," Henderson successfully informed.

"Good work. Major Wagner, move us off and fire." The ship rumbled to life and pushed away quickly from the mother ship. A stream of smoke flew off from the neck of the _Hermes _and propelled a large missile which collided right with the pyramid. Turning hard right and veering away from the target, the _Hermes_ was presented with a half dozen Al'kesh and several squadrons of gliders. A massive explosion resonated through the dead of space as the nuke detonated, vaporizing every meter of the Ha'tak behind them. "That's one down."

Lorne could see the two Earth cruisers engaging five of the mother ships, their railguns harmlessly pelting their shields, while the occasional plasma beam lashed out and punished the shields. The third cruiser made a run straight for the planet and unleashed a barrage of railgun slugs, missiles, and beam weapons, all melting the surface. "Guess they're on their own now," he said as the closest Al'kesh opened fire on the _Hermes_, rocking the small ship with multiple impacts.

* * *

><p>A large clump of rocks fell from the roof of the cavern and crashed onto the Al'kesh with a loud thump. Everyone in the cave was running out through the doors, escaping the now deadly chamber. "I guess this means they're here," Varro pointed out.<p>

"Take us out of here!" Young shouted.

Complying, Varro grabbed the spherical Goa'uld throttle and pulled up. The Al'kesh roared to life as it pulled itself off of the platform and started to soar. "Wait. I want to make sure all of their equipment can never be used again." Nodding, Varro launched two bombs at the cave floor, reducing the equipment to a smoking pile of trash. The flames rushed up over the cockpit window, and Varro kept the ship going up. He pulled the nose up and pointed it straight for the opening at the top of the cave.

More rock and ore flew from the cave ceiling from multiple explosions, scattering across the hull.

"If they don't stop their attack we're not gonna make it out of here!" Varro shouted in response to the cave's collapse. The light at the cave's threshold grew brighter as an explosion near it blasted the hole even wider. As the ship passed through the opening it was showering with earth and rocks and a few small sparks flew from a circuit behind Young.

"Can you take us to hyperspace in the atmosphere?" Young beckoning, not caring at all about the severe warning his flight instructor had given him about opening a hyperspace window within an atmosphere. Varro nodded confidently, but when he tried, nothing happened. "What's wrong?"

"The hyperdrive isn't working," he said.

"Are you sure, maybe you just did something wrong…"

"The drive isn't working," he echoed, this time more aggressively, not taking the Colonel's suggestion without insult, but still maintaining a modicum of respect for a superior. "They must have scrapped the hyperdrive to work on the wormhole drive," he reasoned.

In the co-pilot's seat, Young clasped his chest in frustration and squeezed the small pin. "Guess we'll just stick to the original plan."

* * *

><p>Two Gliders exploded in front of the <em>Hermes<em> and were dispersed by the shield as she rammed through their debris. Once she passed through the flames a mother ship appeared menacingly on the other side. Massive staff energy bolts lashed out from the ship's superstructure and headed straight for the _Hermes_.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Lorne shouted. He felt himself edge to the side as one of the ship snapped to the side. One of the staff bolts missed the ship, but the other hit dead across the bow. The small ship rocked under the heavy impact.

"Full sublight towards that target! Fire all forward guns!" The ship straightened out and hundreds of the hot projectiles shot out from the _Hermes_' railguns. The Ha'tak's shields flared a deep orange as they impacted. Some made it through as the shields had already taken damage and occasional plumes of fire burst from her hull. She continued to fire against the _Hermes_, striking across the short flight wings and the nose, the blue shields erupted everywhere. A console exploded in the back of the bridge as the hull shook violently. A large explosion was heard in the hall right outside the bridge, and a bright fire drew his attention. "Get damage control teams up here!"

"Aye, sir!" Wagner shouted in response, continuing his course for the Ha'tak. A circuit exploded above his console, showering him in sparks. "Shields are at sixty percent!"

McKay's hologram decided to make an appearance at this moment. "Might I suggest you _don't_ put us up against a heavy attack vessel!" he shouted angrily. "This ship isn't designed for that!"

"Slow us to one-quarter sublight! Pull us hard to port once we're within one kilometer!" Lorne shouted, agreeing with the hologram. The distance was closing rapidly, and it made the staff bolts seem like they were moving at a blazing speed. The Ha'tak's shields began to sputter and more of the hot slugs made it through, pelting the hull.

A bright blue beam shot over the _Hermes_' bow and struck the mother ship right in the center of the pyramid, tearing straight through whatever shields had remained. The _Hermes _shook as the large form of a _Daedalus_ battle cruiser passed over her. She fired two more plasma beams at the heart of the Ha'tak, and successfully watched her explode brightly, peeling the hull apart. The pyramid went first, and broke the superstructure into a flurry of pieces that flew everywhere.

"Colonel Ellis is signaling us," McKay informed in the calm following the engagement. Wagner glanced up at him, slightly annoyed as that usually would be his task.

"Patch him through," Lorne responded. A spotty video feed appeared on the side monitor of the older Colonel standing on his larger bridge. "Thanks for the assist there, Colonel."

"Not a problem, but I'd appreciate it if you focused your efforts on their fast movers: the Gliders and Al'kesh," Ellis suggested unpleasantly, echoing McKay's sentiments. "We can take care of their mother ships. Their shielding may by more resilient to the Asgard beam weapons, but they still get the job done."

Lorne nodded. He was right, as the _Hermes_ wasn't equipped with a beam weapon. Being small and fast, a weapon like that just wasn't practical as targeting sensors weren't quite effective. Still, he was upset that he was put to work on the weaker opponents. "Understood, Colonel," he said as the feed flickered from the _Apollo_ taking a hit. "I'll let you get back to work there."

Ellis quickly nodded and ended the transmission. The _Apollo_'s nacelles burst to life above the _Hermes_ and she veered off in the direction of the nearest Ha'tak. "Target any Al'kesh or Gliders that attack the _Apollo_. Let's try to keep the flees off of her, boys," he ordered.

"Aye, sir," Wagner said, turning the ship and pulling her in back of the other cruiser. A single Al'kesh flanked by a squadron of Gliders made their way after the cruiser. The ship roared to life and Wagner intercepted them. Henderson fired in coordination with the other Major, quickly reducing the small attack group into a smoldering wreck.

"Major, give me a sit rep on the task force," Lorne ordered, watching as the fire control team came running down the hall to put out the fire that had been raging for a minute.

"The _Apollo_ has taken same damage to her sublight drive, but her weapons are still strong. The _Suvorov _is covering the _Olympus_, but is taking heavy strain on her shields. Some shots have gotten through and decompressed her port hangar bay. It's empty, so she hasn't lost any 302s," Wagner answered.

"And the Lucian fleet?"

Wagner jerked the ship right to dodge an Al'kesh that had been approaching on a kamikaze run. A glow across the nose of the ship indicated Henderson's success in destroying it. "Over half of the Al'kesh and Glider support has been destroyed, but only three of the mother ships are out of the fight." A furious beeping sounded across him console at that moment. "Sir, I'm picking up Colonel Young's transmitter."

Lorne swore and punched the armrest on his chair. "We can't risk lowering the shields to beam them back. Where are they?"

Another console exploded and a nearby pipe hissed as it leaked out a gas. A nearby officer ran over immediately to seal it off. "They're in the air in an Al'kesh."

His first reaction was surprise, but there was no time for questions. "Send a message to the task force with their transmitter frequency. Tell them _not_ to engage that ship," Lorne ordered directly.

"Copy that, sir," he replied, quickly typing and sending the message.

The ship shook once more as four Gliders fired a flurry of small staff blasts across the bow, flying in from the starboard side. No real damage was dealt, and Henderson quickly disposed of them. "Sir, all of the remaining Gliders and Al'kesh are changing course. They're heading towards the planet."

"Hail Young's Al'Kesh." A moment later, Kaef's face was on the bridge's screen. "Varro?" he asked tentatively.

"It's me Colonel Lorne," he said, assuaging some of the Colonel's worries.

"Why are you in a ship? What happened to the plan?"

The Lucian soldier Young was occupying scooted to be visible in the screen. "This is the plan. They've developed the drive and it's on this ship."

"What?" Lorne exclaimed, completely taken aback by the news the Alliance had come that far in progress.

"I'll explain in the debriefing. Right now you need to get us out of here," Young said urgently. "It looks like they weren't expecting this ship to have to fly; half of the hyperdrive has been torn apart for pieces. We need to land in one of the 304s' hangar bays."

"Understood, but we've got a more pressing concern. You've got a large wave of Gliders and Al'kesh inbound, and the cruisers can't lower their shields for you right now," he informed. "Take whatever evasive action you can; we'll be there soon to cover you."

Young returned to his seat and Varro nodded, killing the transmission.

Lorne rose from his seat and stood by Wagner's station. "Major, get us right on top of that ship before those fighters do."

"Aye, sir." Again, the ship veered violently to the left, until the planet was dead center in the viewport. The ship lurched forward just as violently as Wagner pushed the engines beyond their maximum thrust for a quick burn. It earned him a scowl from McKay, but the hologram chose not to speak this time. The wave of small Alliance craft was visible, converging on the planet from every direction. However, the _Hermes_ was quickly catching up with them.

"Major Henderson, you have permission to fire at will at any targets within range," Lorne said a moment later, once the fighters were close enough to the ship.

"Roger that, sir." The forward and lateral railguns all swerved through their wide firing arcs, firing wildly across space and targeting everything that was moving. The two other Earth cruisers were visible fending off attacks from three Ha'taks at this point.

The _Suvorov_ was positioned defensively above the _Olympus_. The Russian cruiser was taking the brunt of the shots from the opposing group and did not seem to be faring well. Her shields were flickering with sporadic life, but she was still firing away persistently at the enemy with railguns and beam weapons. The beams were having a hard time cracking the stubborn Ha'tak shields, most likely because the _Suvorov_ had diverted significant power to its shields. The lead Ha'tak was worse off though, her shields suddenly fizzing out of existence. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the _Suvorov_ directed fire from all its weapons at that ship for a quick moment. Large plumes of fire came from the core of the ship and destroyed the ship, splaying the two nearby Ha'taks with large chunks of wreckage.

The _Hermes_ sped past all of that fighting and stopped right on the edge of the planet's atmosphere. She quickly turned around and faced the incoming onslaught of fighters and bombers. "Tell Varro to park it right under us," he ordered Wagner. "Divert power from the sublight to the shields, and bring all forward railguns to bear."

Wagner's station beeped. "He's in position now."

There were clearly at least nine incoming Al'kesh, and a lot more Gliders then Lorne could count against the black of space. "This should be interesting," he mumbled as they came within weapons range. "Fire!"

As the _Hermes _pummeled them with electromagnetically propelled slugs, tearing a few Gliders to pieces in an instant, they returned the favor. Dozens of staff blasts slammed into the stationary ship's shields. Usually those weaker weapons wouldn't do more than just rock the ship, but combined they were pretty powerful.

Sparks flew from conduits and consoles across the bridge. Covering his face from the burning specks, Lorne returned to his chair and sat, gripping tightly against the heavy shaking of the ship. Another pipe ruptured in the bridge and more fumes filled in. They were quickly sealed as officers scurried across the bridge. One of the small monitors above the viewport exploded, sending sparks and glass across the two Majors.

McKay's hologram looked busy executing computer codes within the ship's systems when his figure suddenly became distorted. "Uh oh," was all he said before he vanished from the bridge.

"What happened?" Lorne asked, half curious, half happy he was gone.

Wagner quickly read of the damage report. "That last shot took out the holotransmitter in the computer core."

Lorne glanced disappointingly at the Major. "And you never thought of that?" Any humor he was hitting at was lost as another circuit exploded across the starboard wall, sending a constant stream of hot sparks.

"Shields are falling below thirty percent!" Wagner shouted over the shield impacts and exploding terminals. A muffled alarm sounded on his console. "Hull breach on deck three, sections six through eight!"

"Send in damage control teams, now!" At this point most of the Gliders were nothing but dust. However, there were still a half dozen Al'kesh, and as they were approaching Lorne was worried about them. If they got close enough for a bombing run, the _Hermes_ would take heavy damage. "Major, I don't want to see those bombers anymore!"

"Railguns are running hot, sir!" Henderson warned as the weapons' blinked red on his console. "They can't maintain this level of fire!"

The weapon fire from the _Hermes_ decreased to an inconsistent, yet safer level as Henderson spoke. A couple of the Al'kesh took a volley of slugs and tore apart, but the rest were getting close.

Another loud alarm sounded. "Colonel Lorne, I'm reading a hyperspace window forming!"

A purple cloud popped into existence to the starboard bow of the _Hermes_ and with a bright flash two Earth cruisers zoomed out. The both flanked the _Hermes_ and fired their railguns at the remaining Al'kesh, quickly vaporizing them. One of the ships continued on a course to defend the _Suvorov_ while the second remained over the _Hermes_. A second cloud materialized and three Ha'taks joined the battle, assaulted the enemy mother ships immediately.

"The lead mother ship is hailing us, sir," Wagner announced, relief filling his voice as the shields were no longer being punished and the ship managed to settle calmly.

"Put 'em on."

Teal'c appeared on the screen with a wide grin. "Colonel Lorne. I apologize for my tardiness in arriving."

Lorne chuckled in genuine happiness. "Not a problem at all. Just glad to have you."

"Indeed. We rendezvoused with Colonel Carter and repaired their critical systems. However, both vessels are still heavily damaged. It would be best to leave now with the data," he offered. The transmission sputtered as Teal'c's ship came under fire,, doing nothing but creating a minor distraction for the Jaffa.

"Copy, Teal'c." With a low nod from Teal'c, the transmission ended. "Hail the _Hammond_." Within a few seconds a blurry image appeared on the screen of bruised Carter on a beaten bridge. It made Lorne feel better about his ship's status. "Colonel Carter, do you read me?"

While the image froze sporadically, the audio was clear. "Copy that, Colonel." Sparks flew across her bridge and she looked urgently at the camera. "Our shields are weak and we've had to divert most of the power from weapons just to get the hyperdrive online. We're really not that much use here."

"Understood. Colonel, do you think you could lend your port flight deck to our Al'kesh?" he asked, looking out to through the viewport at the battle. The added ships on their side really helped turn the battle in their favor. Only two enemy Ha'tak's were left in the fight, and they didn't seem to be in any good condition. A portion of the task force had circled back to the planet and was destroying the remnants of the Lucian base. The _Hammond_ was currently hidden beneath another two cruisers, and didn't seem to be in immediate danger.

"Affirmative, just make it quick," she asked, looking back to her smoking bridge. "I'd don't want to be without shields for too long."

Lorne nodded at the screen, happy that this ordeal was almost over. "Much appreciated. And Colonel," he said smiling, before signing off, "it's good to see you're okay." Carter grinned and returned the nod. The screen returned to displaying a schematic of the ship, which startled him when he saw how many sections were bathed in red. "Let the good Colonel know that the _Hammond_ is ready to take him aboard."

"Aye, sir," Wagner responded, entering the message calmly as he prepared to set a course to leave the system, anticipating his commander's next order.

* * *

><p>"Looks like we're good to go," Young commented, reading the brief message.<p>

Varro nodded in acknowledgement and pulled the throttle forward gently. The Al'kesh slowly moved away from the gray plated underbelly of the _Hermes_ and edged to the larger cruiser. The _Hammond _was right next to the escort, so Varro didn't feel the need to move to fast, having to only cover a short distance.

Once he was approaching the shield perimeter of the cruiser, he slowed the craft even more. The _Hammond_'s shield slowly peeled apart and allowed entry to the hangar bay, which was already open.

At that moment a blaring alarm went off in the cockpit. "What's happening?" Young screamed.

Two Al'kesh shimmered to life right behind the cruiser and zoomed forward towards them. The first made a bombing run across the cruiser's dorsal hull, blowing open huge chunks of its hull and releasing atmosphere, equipment, and people from the ship. It was a moment before emergency bulkheads sealed and prevented further losses. Nevertheless, the cruiser showed it had taken heavy damage as ship began to drift and various lights flickered. Her shields sputtered to life for a brief second, but one of the bombs seemed to have hit the generator as they fizzed into nonexistence instantaneously.

A flurry of heavy slugs came from the direction of the _Hermes_, obliterating the first bomber. The second one weaved across space, evading the fire once it was shifted towards her. Instead, she quickly made her way straight for Varro's ship.

"Move, now!" Young cried out. "Get us in there!" he said, frantically pointing at the hangar bay.

Varro complied, pushing the throttle forward hard. It was a race as his ship soared down the _Hammond_'s neck straight for the open hangar, and as the opposing bomber flew over the ship's superstructure. Varro made it through the shielded barrier of the hangar bay first, but not before the enemy Al'kesh launched a bomb at the overhead of the bay. As the bomber exploded under fire from the _Hermes_, the energy bomb splashed against the thin roof of the hangar, pushing a wave of energy straight into the bay.

Varro had pushed the ship so hard that when he tried to slow it, it grinding loudly against the metal surface. As the bomb's explosion impacted the pyramid of their Al'kesh, explosions tore throughout the cockpit. Sparks flew across both of the occupants, and the controls shut down. Plunged into darkness, they careened across the hangar bay, until the slammed into the other side. The bomber stopped abruptly and more circuits exploded.

Young was thrown out of his chair by the impact, and flew back into the large open space behind the control center. He painfully rose and watched the control crystals by Varro continue to explode, throwing hundreds of sparks and shards at him. "Varro, get away from there!" he shouted.

As he struggled to move from his seat, a surge of electricity shot from the destroyed crystal tray and passed through his chest, sending him soaring back against the wall. After that discharge the ship was still and all the systems returned to normal. "Varro!" he screamed as he ran over to the body, smelling cooked flesh before he even got there. His uniform was burnt through and his skin was black across his chest. He didn't move, and Young scrambled to feel a pulse. It was there, but incredibly erratic.

"Colonel Young, are you alright?" Carter asked over the ship's communication system.

The pulse was fading; there were longer intervals between beats. "Varro's been hurt bad!" Young shouted, scrambling to think. "Contact Homeworld Command _now_! Disconnect Varro! Do you hear me?" He screamed with panic in his voice, not taking his hand off of the man's neck. There were many seconds between beats, and Young couldn't feel his breath when he put his hand above his mouth. "Come on," he muttered, remembering what happened the last time he had his hands over a hurt man. He wouldn't let it happen again. "Come on."

He couldn't find the pulse. It was gone, and the body was completely limp. Young frantically felt around the body, trying to find a pulse that wasn't there.

Someone said something. He didn't know who, or what. He just thought about Varro, and how he had to stare at an entirely foreign body while worrying about him.

"Colonel!" Carter shouted, snapping him to reality. He gazed up and looked at the empty cockpit. "Colonel Young!" she shouted over the comm line. "Can you hear me? The signal was disconnected."

He turned to look at the control consoles, the source of the sound. "Did they do it in time?" he asked carefully.

There was a pause as Carter wondered how to answer. "There's no way to know." She paused again. "How bad is he?"

Young looked back to the smoking body, letting go of his neck and sitting up above the body. "He's dead."

"Understood," she responded sorrowfully. "Colonel, we don't know anything. He could've been disconnected in time."

"Send me back," he blurted out. There was no answer. "Send me back!" he repeated louder.

"I can't do that right now, sir," she said firmly. "General O'Neill needs to speak to you, and you're the only person who can explain what happened." Young kneeled down and rested his head in his lap. "I'll send a team down." The line clicked off after that.

He sat in the silence and after a moment raised his head to look once more at the body. It was another person's face, another person's charred flesh. But all he thought of was Varro. "It just doesn't feel right," he uttered.

* * *

><p>"Citizens in the DC-metropolitan area awoke to the sounds of roaring jets late last night." Young sat glumly in O'Neill's office on the <em>Selene<em>. The General was showing him a tape from a DC news reporter covering their late night operation. They had spent the last twenty minutes going over the results. "Witnesses report there being two fighter jets in pursuit of a third, yet unidentified aircraft. Video footage has so far shed no light onto the make of the craft due to poor visibility in the night sky. However, several people claim the pursued craft was fired upon by the fighters, saying they heard a loud shot and saw a bright light. The United States Air Force has yet to make an official statement on the matter, but claims there was no aerial engagement, citing a lack of visible debris from the alleged shooting. Similar sightings have been reported in Nevada and Colorado, as well as abroad in London, Moscow, and Shanghai. None of the foreign governments have yet to address the incidents."

O'Neill turned off the program. He looked from the monitor to Young, who was sitting glumly in the chair across from him. "We came close to a public disclosure event today. Guess we were just lucky. We're throwing the usual training accident story as a cover, but I think everyone knows that's BS. We'll just have to come up with something better."

"What about the task force?" Young inquired bluntly.

The General sighed tiredly. He had been listening to damage reports and repair estimates for the last hour, and that was a sore topic for him. "About a third of the fleet is probably out of the picture for a while. The Russians overtaxed most of their systems; they had to be towed home. The _Archimedes_ mostly has internal damage, but it'll be a while to replace everything. Carter took the worst of the hurt with multiple hull breaches and destroyed systems. _Hermes_ is alright, but will be in dry dock for a week. The rest of the group took moderate damage. McKay won't stop yelling at me because the drive was damaged." Apparently the bomb damaged the Al'kesh's engine room and crippled the wormhole drive. Still, the design was something to work from.

Young stared at the monitor, thinking about the extensive damage and losses. "Was it worth it, sir?"

"When you kick your enemy away from your home, and make sure they've been hurt badly enough that they'll remember it, it's _always_ worth it," O'Neill remarked slowly and profoundly. "Losses on our side are expected, but we have just shown them we will fight this war. That's the strongest message we could send them."

They sat in silence for a moment. The Colonel stared back at him, maintaining a semblance of professionalism. "I heard about Major Brooks," he directly stated, voicing O'Neill's inner dilemma. "I'm sorry you had to do that. It was an unfortunate incident."

"Oh, it was no incident. She had been given a cocktail of drugs. They were meant to make her go bananas," O'Neill responded snidely. "They wanted her violent so she would be killed, as a countermeasure of some kind."

"Do we know who did it?"

"The drugs were produced in the SGC, so thankfully we have records of all orders," he said uncomfortably. "Shen ordered supplies of the drug over the last several months."

While his attention was only half in this debriefing, he still felt a burning hate for that woman. "How are we going to handle her?"

"You don't need to worry about that, Colonel," a voice said from the door to the General's office. "We'll take care of her." Young turned to see Richard Woolsey dressed in a full business suit.

"Mr. Woolsey," Young said in mild surprise. "I didn't expect to see you."

He smiled in return, clearly full of happiness and relief to be back among his colleagues. "I could say the same for you," Woolsey said jocularly, commenting on the Lucian Alliance soldier the Colonel was occupying. "Not the best look for you."

Young turned anxiously to the General. "Speaking of which, sir…"

"You're dismissed, Colonel," O'Neill answered, shooing him with his hands. "I hope for the best for your crewmates."

"Thank you, General O'Neill," he said, turning to leave.

O'Neill coughed loudly to get his attention before he walked out of the office. The Colonel stood by Woolsey in the threshold, waiting curiously. "Maybe you'll go throw yourself into the brig… you know," he said gesturing at the Lucian uniform again.

"Understood," he answered, walking off with a security officer.

* * *

><p>"… just don't know when to shut up, do you?" James screamed into Young's face, holding her weapon menacingly.<p>

He blinked in surprise and looked up calmly at her. "You have something to tell me, Lieutenant?" Young glanced around the communication room, taking in the aging brass design of the Ancient ship. The stars outside the small oval window looked more normal for him, even if they were different every single time the ship dropped out of F.T.L.

James stepped back and lowered her weapon. "Colonel Young," she breathed in a bit of shock. "No, sir… I... I just wasn't expecting you back."

"Stand down. It's alright." He nodded to Barnes and she removed the sole stone from the pad. As James moved to untie him from his chair, he looked to his side and noticed it was empty. "Varro… is he…?" he didn't finish the question.

"He's fine," James told him. His body flooded with relief and he closed his eyes, nodding his head. "He convulsed a few hours ago and passed out, but the connection was severed from Earth's end. TJ was called back from the planet and has him in the infirmary." She cut the last piece of the hard plastic and released him from his chair. "Dr. Ryder is there too. She was disconnected successfully."

Young rose from his seat and felt his cast arm itch. He ignored it and left the communication room, heading straight for the infirmary. Walking into the large room, he saw both Ryder and Varro resting comfortably. TJ was working at her computer but rose when she saw him.

"How are they, TJ?" He looked worriedly to Varro.

"I was concerned about him for a little while," TJ admitted, crossing her arms as she spoke. "He almost flat lined, but suddenly he normalized. I'm just waiting for him to wake up." She strolled over to Ryder who was two beds away from Varro. "She's been on and off. I'm a little bit worried about her recovery though," she confessed.

Young frowned and looked at her curiously, sitting down on the nearby bed. "What do you mean?"

She sighed and looked around, considering the shortest way to explain it. "Physically she's fine. I'm just… not sure about her psychological recovery. Obviously this was a traumatic experience for her."

"I'll have Wray work with her," Young offered, picking that as the easiest solution. It was likely she would volunteer first though.

"It's more than that," TJ said softly, walking away from Ryder so she wouldn't hear if she woke up. Young followed her with concerned interest. "I scanned her with the Ancient tech here… and I found a second neural signature, buried under her own."

He put his head down and shook it, taking in a breath. "It's Brooks', right?"

TJ nodded gently. "I'm afraid so. I can only think of the extended connection as an explanation, but that still doesn't make much sense to me."

"They were injecting Brooks' body with hallucinogenics and a bunch of other drugs," Young informed, looking over at Ryder. She was curled on the bed, looking as if she was having a nightmare. "Could that have something to do with it?"

She thought for a moment and shrugged. "It's possible. We still don't know that much about how the stones work. Maybe an abnormal brain chemistry could do something. I don't know," she sighed, not enjoying the ambivalence of the discussion. TJ looked away from her patients and turned to Young. "How about you. How are you doing?"

He didn't answer at first, instead gazing at the floor panels. "Tired," he finally admitted. Looking back up at her face, he appeared truly exhausted, both physically and mentally. "I don't know if I can keep this up."

"Keep what up, sir?" she said, her features showing compassion to her commander. She quite understood the burdens of command and never once envied his job.

His eyes still wandered around the infirmary, taking in the Ancient features that connected this room to the rest of the ship. From the ceiling recessed lights to the thin-metal patterns that made the walls look like they were sculpted, this ship had its own spirit. "As much as I want to get back to Earth, this ship is home," he said slowly, emphasizing the last word. "Every time I'm here, I'm thinking about Earth. When I'm there, I'm worried about this place. Going back and forth... I just want to stay in one place. It's hard... knowing my responsibilities are so far reaching."

TJ let him sit quietly for a moment, respecting him for his patience and ability to get work through the toughest situations. She wasn't used to hearing him complain, but in her mind he was completely justified to do it. "That's why you're the man that you are. Because you are stronger than most of us."

Young nodded and looked at her, supported by her words. Grinning, he glanced back at the two patients. "I'm going to my quarters. Keep my apprised of their conditions." He turned to leave immediately, letting out a small yawn as he felt his body turn into a massive dead weight.

"Colonel," a weak voice addressed him. He sluggishly turned to see Varro pushing himself up in his bed. TJ walked over to his quickly and began to check his monitor and him. "I'm fine, really," he said to her, silently asking her not to worry about him. She unwillingly backed away while Young approached. "Glad to see you're okay. How'd we do?"

"We have the ship, but the drive took some damage," Young responded, leaning against the next bed. "It'll take some time but Earth thinks they can make it work." He sat silently, staring at Varro. "You did a good job."

Varro grinned and nodded appreciatively at the Colonel. "Thank you, sir."

"And this time you're in the infirmary, so I guess we're even now," Young said plainly, lifting his hurt arm slightly. Varro grinned at him. The Colonel turned and walked out of the infirmary.

"Glad to see you're okay," TJ said, reminding Varro of her presence. "You scared me there." She sat down on his bed right beside him.

"That wasn't my intention." He stared at her silently for a moment, and she returned an unsure gaze. She started to rise, but he lightly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards him. He kissed her on the lips lightly for a quick second and immediately let go.

She looked into his eyes, staying still an inch from his nose. "What was that for?"

Varro leaned back to his pillow and sighed. "I just escaped death… by leaving another person's body and being sent across the universe back to mine. That's not natural, and this place isn't safe for anyone. Who knows how long we have."

TJ smiled lightly and rested more comfortably on his bed. From the shadows in the hallway outside, Young released a long breath and walked away.

* * *

><p>Tiredly typing away at the Bridge's science station, Rush finally stopped and looked at his research. He was learning so much, but something just felt wrong about the whole thing.<p>

"Maybe it's because you're doing this alone," a voice said behind him.

He turned around to face Amanda, not even surprised at her appearance or ability to voice his thoughts. "I take it you have something important to tell. And please, if you don't, then just go."

Amanda stood resolute for once, refusing to show him any of the hurt she felt. "This is bigger than all of us, you included."

"And what, you think I don't know that?" he said, gesturing to the computer terminal in exasperation. "I have been following your messages and preparing for this."

"That's not what I mean," she replied, casting him a domineering look. "You can't do this alone. If this is going to work, you need to have the support of the people on this ship."

Rush scoffed at her, and smirked at her ideas. "Oh please. We both know that would create more complications. If Colonel Young wouldn't refuse me, then I guarantee you our gun-slinging Sergeant Greer would enjoy doing it for him."

She walked straight up to Rush with a determined look across her face. "If you do this on your own, I promise you that you will fail."

Staring down at her, he decided to ignore her warning. He turned back to his station to work. As he reached for the console it suddenly turned off. Irritably, he looked at Amanda. "Turn it back on," he whispered.

"Not until you understand that you do need help with this," she insisted.

Looking at her stern face, he realized there was nothing he could do. "Fine," he surrendered. She gave him a quick smile, and vanished immediately.

"Dr. Rush?" Kalin asked as he walked onto the Bridge at that moment. "Who were you talking to?"

Ignoring the young scientist, he stormed out of the Bridge, leaving him standing by the railing wondering what he did wrong.

* * *

><p>Young was lying out on his couch, watching the stars slowly drift past the window. It was calm and peaceful. It was a chance to be reflective. His radio sat turned off on the table. It was like that for a few minutes until the ship shook softly. With a grinding sound, the room phased around him and the stars were then obscured by the F.T.L. vortex.<p>

A loud knocking on his door disturbed his reverie. He glanced behind him and chose to ignore it. The knock came again. "Go away," he mumbled, not loud enough to be heard.

Instead, the door lock spun loudly and let the door open. Young irritably rose from his couch and looked to see Rush leaning against his doorframe. Neither of the men looked too happy to see the other.

"Whatever it is, it can wait," Young said gruffly, sitting straight up in his couch.

Rush refused to take the hint and walked into the room. "No actually, it can't," he said reluctantly, but calmly, closing the large door behind him. "We need to talk."

* * *

><p><em>On the mid-season finale of Stargate Universe. The greatest threat to the future of the <em>Destiny_ is unraveled, and the most difficult decision must be made. As the crew is pushed forward by the _Destiny'_s automated course, time is running out or the destiny of everything will be rewritten._


	10. Signal

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_I've got two things two say to you that basically cover how I feel: Thank you so much & I love you guys! I'll admit that for a while I was slacking off on writing this, but I was motivated to write this from all of the amazing reviews I was recieving. You guys are the best fans an author could have! Thank you for continuing to read this story, and I really really hope you love this episode... I can see everything I wrote in my mind, and I just hope I did it justice with words. I started this around a year ago, and It's been amazing the entire time._

_I couple of shout-outs. Thanks to Emma for the wonderful comment, and just hope I can keep your faith in me alive. Same goes for the 'no-name' Guest, that was too much praise for me, but I will humbly accept it and thank you! To Sephirmaug, Angel1973, and MarsterRoo, thanks for the comments and the kindness; I try my best to keep everything as real and grounded as possible. Bhoy1888, I agree that they were a little tougher, but that wasn't exactly my idea. I did some research and it was hinted that Daniel Jackson claimed the Lucian Alliance developed shields to counter the Asgard Plasma Beam weapons, so I used that idea to make them tougher. Maybe I did get carried away. A huge thanks to everyone else that I didn't get a chance to mention; you guys are all awesome._

_Episode Ten, the Mid-season finale; I am so excited to have finished this! I did what I could to make this a nice variety episode and to try and keep it as real as possible. Hopefully almost every question should now be answered, and personally I'd love it if a few jaws dropped; I did my best to come up with an amazing plot line; I seriously hope that you all love reading it just as much as I loved writing it! Review, please please please! I love your reviews, and I know it makes me seem needy, but I genuinely love them! If something fell flat, or you have questions, comments, or anything, review or send me a message! I'm not perfect, I can always be clearer or better, so help me by reviewing!_

_Since this is the Mid-season finale, expect a break. I realize I've already had lengthy breaks, so I can't say how long a break I will take. Anyways, I've rambled enough... now, enjoy!_

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode, "Reboot", "Flight", and "Tides of War". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Twin Destinies", "Epilogue", and "Gauntlet" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

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><p>310: Signal<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>The Ancients did not devote the efforts of an entire generation to build this ship on a whim, neither was <em>Destiny_ named on a whim._

_The Ancients discovered a complex structure, the fingerprints of an intelligence._

Destiny_ was launched in search of that intelligence._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_I just wanna get these people home._

_Well, I'm starting to think that seeing this mission through may be our only chance of ever doing that._

_I only know that _Destiny_ has come this far, and if we abandon her now, there'll be no coming back._

_This ship was launched to solve a mystery __by accumulating knowledge bit by bit._

_Our mission is - and always will be - the journey itself._

_Mandy, is this you?_

_When the time comes, don't be afraid to let go._

_A message, perhaps, or a sign of intelligence from the beginning of time._

_Sent by?_

_Well, that's the very question they sought to answer when they launched Destiny. Once I'd broken the code, I had access to the ship's complete archive. There are thousands of pages devoted to this: scientific research, philosophical debate._

_So it is about power._

_Yes, Colonel. Power to change things, control our fate, right the wrongs._

_To play God?_

_I mean, there's more to this encounter than just what we're seeing. The Ancients don't do anything just because they feel like it. There is a reason to everything, and there is a reason these humans exist here. I know that that reason is important to us, just like everything up to now has been important. In this particular case, there is a plan in the works. We have to go somewhere specific, and the ship is gonna make sure we get there._

_Whatever it is, it can wait._

_No actually, it can't. We need to talk."_

* * *

><p>The Colonel briskly walked up the ramp of the long hallway. A few months ago the walls were covered in Dr. Rush's scribbles. Now they were all cleaned up and the walls were bare and held a small shine from the buffing. Getting Rush to part from his hallway of equations was only made possible by giving him dozens of sheets of <em>Destiny<em>-made paper and the sap from a planet they came across a while ago. The sap served as a mild adhesive and turned the walls in Rush's quarters into post-it heaven. As long as the mess wasn't present in public areas, Young didn't care. Turning around the corner, he encountered Wray and Ryder at the end of the hallway. They spoke quietly with each other and the hiss of a pipe kept him from hearing what they were saying. He merely stopped where he was and waited from them to stop, as he needed to speak with Wray.

While continuing to speak with Ryder, Wray quickly shifted her eyes past her and met with Young's. He gave her a short look of urgency. She gave a brisk nod to him, acknowledging that she was going to be over soon. They spoke for a few more seconds, after which Wray gave a broad smile. Ryder turned around and walked past the Colonel, greeting him and leaving the hallway.

Once they were left alone in the hall, Young shuffled over to Wray. "How is she?" he asked, skipping over any usual pleasantries.

Wray shrugged mildly. "She's better than she started of as. I've only had one counseling session with her, but she already showed improvement."

"Are Brooks' memories affecting her?"

"Well, they're still with her," she said, wondering with a smidge of curiosity what that felt like, "but I think I've been able to strengthen her mind to block out those foreign memories. For now it's helping."

Young nodded and gave Wray a look of satisfaction. "Alright, keep me aware of her recovery." He didn't move after saying that, and Wray took that as a sign they weren't done talking.

"Did you need me for something, Colonel?" she asked slowly, not used to seeing Young at a loss for words.

He sighed and looked around the hallway to make sure that they were alone. Satisfied that they were, he spoke to her using a quiet voice. "Something… important…" he started, pausing as he wasn't too happy with that word choice, but he chose to continue nonetheless, "has come to my attention. Come with me; Rush will explain."

Mentally, Wray had been waiting for Colonel to drop the scientist's name. However, she decided to listen first, and then pass judgment. "This should be interesting."

* * *

><p>Weighed down by a bag filled with plants and seeds, Greer stumbled out of the tree line. Following him was Scott, James, Park, and a half dozen other Marines, all carrying a similar load. Greer squinted as the bright light for the sun hit him in contrast to the shady forest. In the center of the clearing, the Stargate stood prominently. Eli was already scrolling through the many 'Gate symbols, dialing <em>Destiny<em>'s address, while around twenty expedition members were milling about. Scattered around the ramp were more bags and crates, all filled with food they had found over their many hours of exploring the forest.

"Let's move it!" Greer shouted to everyone behind him. "I do _not_ want to spend the rest of my day playing delivery boy!" With that he quickened his pace. He reached the 'Gate right as the wormhole settled, and lowered his bag, giving himself a quick moment to relax. In that moment, he reached for his radio. "_Destiny_, this is Sergeant Greer."

"We hear you, Sergeant," Brody responded. "How were the pickings?"

Greer lifted his bag and walked up halfway the ramp. He tossed it through the horizon. "How's about you tell me, 'doc?" Turning around with his typical business-as-usual countenance, he pointed at the bags and crates and waved his arms at the wormhole.

As the Marines started to push their bags through the event horizon, they replaced their loads with more bags. "I'd say we're all going to have a good dinner," Brody answered a moment later.

"Seriously though, this place was full of food," Scott remarked as he lifted a crate with James' help. "Sucks we've gotta go."

"Yeah," Eli commented, tucking his dialing remote into his travel gear, "I like it here." He smiled as he looked around and enjoyed the sun.

The Sergeant picked up the heaviest bag he could find and walked up to Eli. He dropped it right onto Eli's arms. "If you like it so much, you can go sightseeing all you want, _after_ we've got all the supplies back on board." Struggling under the weight, Eli nodded and wobbled over to the 'Gate quickly, rushing to get to _Destiny._

"It is nice here," Scott supported, carrying the crate through the wormhole right after Eli. A brief, exhilarating moment in the wormhole was replaced with the chilled and dark atmosphere of the Gate Room. He sidestepped along with James and dropped the crate at the edge of the room, leaving plenty of room for arrivals. Eli had already dropped off his bag and was now at the computer terminal, reading off data over Brody's shoulder. "TJ, this is Scott," he said into his radio, moving over to the spiral staircase so he wasn't in anyone's way as more supplies and crew kept coming through the 'Gate.

He waited there for a few seconds until TJ responded. "TJ here. What do you need, Lt. Scott?"

"We just returned from the planet with a heck of a lot of plants. Park cleared it all as edible, but you might want to come down and see if there's anything medicinal here," Scott offered.

Usually, on such a scouting mission, TJ would have gone along with them in the first place. She stayed behind this time to examine some new medical equipment Eli found in a cargo hold on the port wing. At first glance she figured it might be an advanced cellular scanner. Whatever it really was, she was pretty excited to take a crack at studying it. "I'll get right on that. Thanks for the heads-up," she responded, somewhat cheerfully. Using that to judge, Scott took it to mean she was pleased with the machine.

"No problem," he said. Most of the civilians were back on board right now and the Gate Room was flooded with bags and crates. They had started to open the crates and examine the contents to figure out where everything had to go. At this moment, Scott looked around the room and up on the overlooking catwalk. "Hey, where's the Colonel?" he asked Brody after making a quick inspection looking for him. "Or Wray? One of them is usually here for this."

Brody glanced up from the Kino feed on the terminal. He gave Scott an apologetic shrug. "I radioed him as soon as you dialed in. He didn't say much."

"Where's Greer?" Eli asked right then as Scott was about to reach for his radio to talk to the Colonel. The Lieutenant turned to look at the event horizon. Everyone else was back on board and the puddle was calm. The Kino had just been sent through to the ship. Eli groaned at losing his eyes and ears to the connected planet.

Scott made his way into the middle of the Gate Room and gave a loud whistle to get everyone's attention. "Has anyone seen Sergeant Greer?" he asked loudly.

"He was right behind me," one of the civilians, Dr. Kemp said from the edge of the 'Gate. "I was the last one back."

The Lieutenant decided to wait another moment for Greer, and then reached for his radio. "Greer, this is Scott. Do you copy?"

His response came quickly. "Requesting radio silence." After that brisk message the radio spat out static for him.

Scott backed away from the 'Gate and gestured to everyone cautiously. "Give me some space here, people!"

Eli grabbed the Kino as it floated up to him. He made an angry face into the lens and then shoved it into his bag. "Did you guys run into any kind of hostile wildlife or something?" he inquired, trying to put some pieces together.

"No, I didn't see anything. But we didn't go too far," he admitted. Scott readied his weapon at the thought of some giant alien dinosaur. "But if there was something dangerous he would've just left."

They didn't need to wait too long to find out what it was. Within a minute, Greer came through the wormhole, struggling as he pulled a thick rope that was originally in his backpack for climbing purposes. Scott watched as the rope slithered out of the event horizon. At the end of it, a creature was tied up to the rope. It resembled a large mole, with no tail, and a thin layer of grey, mottled fur. It was a fat animal and as he dragged away from the 'Gate, it smeared nasty navy-blue colored blood across the floor.

"Okay," Brody said with a face that showed he wasn't surprised with Greer's action, "I'm not cleaning that up." He pointed distastefully at the blood streak.

"What is this?" Scott asked, slowly walking up to the creature once Greer stopped dragging it. The Stargate shut down at that point and the air vents burst to life. When the air started to circulate, Scott realized just how much this animal stunk. Wrinkling his nose, he poked the creature with the barrel of his rifle.

Greer dropped the rope and backed away. Panting lightly and resting his hands on his knees, he stared proudly at his catch. "A whole herd of these…" he thought about the word for a second, "big ass rodents came out of the tree line, right as I was about to leave. I tossed the Kino on through and watched them for a second. They looked really full of meat to me, so I waited till one got close."

Scott scoffed at Greer and patted his shoulder. Everyone else in the Gate Room stared for another moment or two and then continued unpacking. "Help me get this to the mess," he said to Scott. "We eat well tonight!"

* * *

><p>Wray sat almost perfectly still at one of the terminals in the Control Interface Room. Rush sat at the adjacent console, the target of her frozen gaze. He seemed perfectly fine with the attention, as he was splitting it between looking at her, the Colonel, and the various data that kept popping up on the screen in front of him. The Colonel was standing by Rush, his hands in his pockets, waiting for Wray to say something.<p>

Finally she took a long, deep breathe. She shifted her gaze so it looked as if she was staring at both of them at the same time, as she indented to speak to both of them. "How long did you know?" Her voice was sharp and toneless, but in a professional and not intimidating manner.

"I just found out last night," Young answered first and immediately. He visibly relaxed once she started to speak. "Rush told me then, and I was convinced that this was something you needed to be let in on." His response was sincere, as seemed to partially satisfy her. With a small nod, she turned fully unto Rush.

He waited and returned the gaze for a moment. Wray's gaze remained constant and endlessly patient. In the end, Rush decided on telling her the truth; or as much of it that she asked for anyway. So far he had avoided mentioning the existence of Amanda. "I found the lab a couple days ago," he said, referring to the computer lab in which he was first introduced to the information, "around the same time you were uncovering the IOA agreement with the Alliance on Earth. It seemed like a bad time to bring up something of this magnitude."

At hearing this, Wray seemed somewhat shocked. She came in assuming Rush could be found at great fault somehow, but this wasn't quite as she thought it might be. "So… have you checked out this lab since then for more information?"

Rush slouched a little and rested his elbows on the console. The shock was over now and he could relax. "There's been nothing new in the computer. It seems that it's waiting."

She relaxed and took on a posture of interest. The conversation now wasn't just about a confession, but about sharing. "Well… waiting for what?"

"I honestly don't know," the scientist confessed after a moment of staring at the glowing lights on the central core. "But I can say that when whatever we're waiting for happens… we'll know it, and have to make a choice." He turned from the core and looked gravely at Wray for a quick moment, and then craned to look at Young. "And we won't have a second chance if we choose wrong."

They remained in silent for a moment, and then Wray spoke up. "We have to tell the crew." Both Young and Rush visually scrutinized her. "This is something that affects all of them; they should know and have a say in this."

"That would only create panic," Rush argued, sitting up straighter and gesturing right at Wray. "If you go and tell them this, they crew will fall apart. Even if they reach a decision on this, an indefinite waiting period will only make them second guess their decision." He paused and waited to see if anyone else had a comment, which they surprisingly didn't. In the void, he decided to offer a suggestion. "We should wait to tell them, until we need to make the decision. I've found that people make the honest choice when they have no warning."

Wray scoffed lightly at him. "I thought by now you would know what kind of trouble we can get into by _not_ being honest."

"I told you," he returned, gesturing to both her and Young. "I am being honest about what I know. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't give the crew too much time to…"

This entire conversation had been carried out in a hushed tone, whether they knew it or not. Because of that, they easily heard it when footsteps marked someone's entry into the room. Rush immediately stopped speaking and everyone turned to see Volker walk in and slowly stop at the threshold to the room. His initial countenance reflected grave importance. It quickly shifted into suspicion at Rush's quiet tone, and then returned to its original appearance.

"Uh, sorry to bother you," he started, walked over to the nearest terminal, "but something's come up."

Young groaned and pulled out his radio and showed it to Volker. "Has _everyone_ on this ship forgotten we have radios for a reason?"

Volker pressed a few controls and activated the holographic display. "I know, but I needed to show this to you." A map of this quadrant in the galaxy appeared, with a small blue dot about a third of the way from the edge to the center of the galaxy.

"Fine, what is it?" Young asked, giving a quick look to Rush indicating that they weren't done talking.

After giving Young a short confused glance, he returned to the terminal. "Umm, I was monitoring communications and long-range sensor data when I noticed this." Fourteen red dots appeared, scattered about the upper portion of the quadrant. "Those are the Nati ships were tracking. It looks like they've started to rebuild their fleet, and they're not staying to one place anymore."

Young forgot about his discussion for the moment and directed his attention to the matter at hand. "Are they blocking our path?"

"It doesn't look like they are, or at least not in any coordinated way." Volker adjusted the data to show the paths the ships had taken. "For the most part it looks like they're just scouting out their territory; jumping to one of their planets, spending a few hours at them, and moving on to the next one."

"Sounds like they're running damage control, or looking for survivors," Wray suggested as she rose from her chair and moved over to Volker.

Volker nodded in agreement to her. "From what I can tell that seems about right. I've backtracked their paths since they dispersed and there's been no indication they're looking for us."

"Well, we should still be careful," Rush warned, remaining at his chair but pointing to the display. "Some of their ships are dangerously close to our flight plan. Whether they plan it or not, we may have an encounter."

"Taking our flight path and scheduled drop-outs into account, we should clear their outer colonies in about a months-time," Volker predicted.

Young took the cautioning statement and nodded. "It doesn't seem like there's anything that we can do really. Just keep going and watch out. Maintain a weapon-readiness level," he said to Volker, "and I'll speak with Sergeant Greer about planning a few drills." The Colonel turned to Rush at this point. "It's been a while since we've run into any problems. I hope that means the ship is capable of defending itself?"

Rush nodded lazily, clacking a few buttons on his own terminal and overriding Volker's holo-display. He brought up a schematic of _Destiny_. "All the shield emitters are functioning; weapon platforms have power; and we've managed to seal up a few more hull breaches with the use of the repair robots. Dr. Park is particularly pleased that the dome is repaired."

"Speaking about the dome," Volker interjected, turning off the display, "Scott and his team returned with a lot of edibles and seeds. And I hear Greer caught some wildlife. TJ checked it to make sure it's safe, and Becker is gonna work on adding it to the dinner menu." He looked slightly nauseated at the thought of what Becker would have to do to prepare it; skinning and cleaning and blood came to mind.

"Sounds like an exciting day," Young said in a monotone. He glanced up at the countdown clock which still had around eight hours on it. "Why don't we get some of the crew off planet for a little while; let them relax before we set off again?"

Volker shrugged happily at the idea. "I heard it was nice there."

"Why don't you check it out?" the Colonel offered, not at all subtly. Volker kept any questions and suspicion to himself, but didn't keep it from showing on his face. Instead, he nodded and quickly walked out.

"Wonderfully handled if I do say so myself," Rush said sarcastically, folding his arms and glaring darkly at him. "The whole crew will know something is the matter before we jump to F.T.L."

"This isn't over," Wray said, stepping between them. "How are we going to deal with this?"

The Colonel stood still and stared at Rush for a moment. He thought for a moment, and finally spoke after a sigh. "I think he's right."

"What?!" Wray said, aghast that Young agreed to hide the truth.

Rush was satisfied that the Colonel was with him and chose not to push his luck. "Now that this is settled, I should go to Earth for that research I was talking about." In his opinion, having convinced one of them was enough for him. With that he promptly left the room, leaving Young alone as the target of Wray's anger.

"Can't you see he's just playing the same game again and again?" she said, half anger and half disappointment.

Young slowly turned to look at her. He rested his hands back in his pockets and leaned against the door frame, feeling tired all of a sudden. "It could be days, weeks, or even months until anything happens. Tell me honestly, that as a sane person, having that much time to dwell on this wouldn't boggle your mind every minute." He paused here and waited for her to speak. Wray opened her mouth, but she partly agreed with what he was saying, and decided it would be better to let him talk for now. "Now, I won't deny that he can be a self-centered bastard who cares about nothing but the mission, and that's hurt us before. But I'd like to think he's changed enough for us to trust each other."

Wray returned the stare for a moment. Finally she broke the stillness with a laugh. Loosening up, she tossed her hands up in surrender. "I suppose… that telling the crew now… could hurt morale. And it is already pretty low," she admitted.

"Good. Now I suggest we just try to lay low and forget about this for the time being," Young suggested, heading to the door. "Rush will figure out all the hard stuff like he always does, and we'll deal with this later."

She stood with her arms folded for a moment after the Colonel had left. There was a small grin on her face as she was reflecting. "Some things never change."

* * *

><p>Becker stood behind the table he had moved to the side on the Mess Hall. Atop the table was the cleaned and cooked carcass of the animal Greer killed. He was wielding a large pair of knives and was slicing the smoking meat into long, thin pieces. A line of crewmembers extended out of the mess, all waiting for a taste of meat, something that they had missed for a long time. Occasionally a team caught an animal in this manner, but those instances were rare.<p>

Currently at the head of the line, Eli had a small pile of mixed leafy vegetables and tubers, and was eagerly waiting to get a slice of meat with that. Graciously accepting the piece Becker put on his plate, he turned and sat at the nearest empty table. He had gotten there early so most of the Mess was available. The moment he sat down, Brody, Volker, Scott, Chloe, Greer, and Kalin all came out of nowhere and sat down at the table with him. Eli looked around in confusion as they filling into the bench quickly. "Wow. I give that a 9.8 for creepy synchronized seating."

Greer was to his right. He picked up his utensils and acted normally while he responded. "We need to talk," he mumbled as he cut his meat.

Needless to say, Eli's attention was with them. Since all of them were trying to act normal, Eli decided to follow the act. "Okay, so what's this about?"

At this Volker, seated beside Brody and across from Eli, leaned forward and looked around cautiously. "The Big Three," was all he said, in a slow and dramatic voice. Eli gave him a funny look and scoffed lightly. Volker sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"He's talking about the Colonel, Camille, and Rush," Scott simplified.

At that Eli gave a silent 'oh' and grinned at the connection. "Good one. Well, what about them?"

"Come on, man," Greer said in mock disappointment as he chewed on the meat, "don't pretend you haven't noticed something weird going on with them." Half of his attention was on the conversation, and the other half of it was on the meat which he was thoroughly savoring. "Now _that_ is some good home-cooking."

Eli groaned at him and looked doubtfully at the meat. "The last time you said something like that I puked up _not _-sweet potato," he griped.

Continuing to cut the meat relentlessly, Greer shook his head to Eli. "Trust me this time."

Brody and Volker went ahead next, taking a small piece of the meat and carefully chewing it. A moment later they both gave a look of satisfaction. "Tastes like chicken," they uttered in unison. Everyone chuckled at them as they exchanged odd looks with each other. Eli went along and took a small bite of the meat and found it to be amazing. It was well-cooked and tender, but Eli was pretty sure half of the reason it tasted so good was that he hadn't eaten meat in his own body in such a long time.

"Can we get back on topic, please?" Scott begged, giving a sidelong glance to Chloe as she nudged him in the side. She had one of the most serious countenances at the table, which made him more interested in moving on. "Even since we woke up from stasis, Rush has been acting weird."

Eli scoffed at him. "When isn't he acting weird?"

"Well, yeah that's what we were thinking," Volker spoke up. "But this morning after you dialed back in, I ran into the three of them in the Control Interface Room. They were talking about something, and they were all jumpy when I showed up."

At this point Eli put down his utensils and gave his whole focus to the group. Cautiously he looked around the room for Rush, Wray, or Young. "Do you know what they were talking about?"

"Not a clue," he grumbled, looking down at the table, "but I do know they didn't want me to be there."

Eli reflected for a second and spoke again. "A couple of days ago, when Dr. McKay was here to help us find the robot, we lost contact with Rush for a good half an hour. I didn't think about it, but he did seem a bit off after that." Eli felt disappointed with himself, not having pursued the matter further.

"I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with the transmission," Chloe said softly, gazing straight ahead with a blank expression, mostly ignoring Eli's realization. "The one from the Nati planet," she clarified. With that her expression lightened and she slouched down a light bit, pulling the sleeves of her shirt over her hands. "It's important."

"Dr. Rush has been persistent in unraveling the contents of the program," Kalin added from the far end of the table. "He's asked me to assist, but I haven't made any significant progress. Should we really be talking about them like this?" he inquired, looking around the Mess Hall uncomfortably. "I mean, shouldn't we trust them?"

Eli sighed and looked at the naïve scientist. "I'll forgive you that because you haven't been on this ship for too long. Rule number one is don't trust Rush until you've thoroughly proven everything he says."

Kalin frowned in response. "I thought the first rule was getting back onboard before the clock times out?"

"That's the second rule. The Rush rule takes precedence over all other rules," Eli explained with a heavily serious expression.

"Oh," he responded quietly. "Well, he has been acting… strange. I've heard him talking to himself a lot. Whenever I ask about it, he denies it, but he always seems angry about something." He shrugged and ate a small piece of a tuber. "But if Volker is right, then Wray and Colonel Young are working with him. From what I've learned of your previous… problems, is that Rush always acted alone."

They all paused and took a moment to think and eat in silence. "Kalin's right," Chloe said. "The Colonel wouldn't do anything with Rush unless he was sure there was no endgame. Usually he's the one trying to debunk Rush's ploys."

"So what, this is something serious? Not just a game?" Scott asked, gazing at Brody with a doubtful glare. "Still seems more than likely that something rotten is going on."

"I don't know, but maybe it would be a good idea to leave this alone," Chloe said, reassuring them immediately, "just for now. If things stay weird and they say nothing, then we should speak up."

"If life on this ship has taught us anything," Brody interjected, "it's that keeping secrets _never_ helps. How can this be any different? How _might _this be a good thing? I mean, seriously, do you think they're planning a surprise birthday party in there?" He paused and leaned in, lowering his voice. "It can't be good."

"They'll tell us," Chloe argued, leaning into Scott's side, feeling uncomfortable with the heavy arguing. "Whatever it is, it has to be about the mission, or something from the download. Only Rush could have figured anything out, which means he had to have told Camille and the Colonel. If he told them, then they'll tell us; when they're ready." She spoke so calmly and was so sure of herself, as if she had been a fly on the wall of Rush's conversation and was just relaying the news.

Scott stared at Chloe for a tense moment. He turned to Brody who put his hands up in surrender. Then he looked to Eli who shrugged agreeably. Finally, he sighed loudly and threw his hands up as well. "Fine; we let this go."

"I'll keep a close eye on them," Greer said as his condition for accepting this decision. Everyone nodded and immediately dropped the topic.

Eli turned enthusiastically to his plate and enjoyed a few good bites of the food. After feeling slightly less hungry, he looked up and rested his elbows on the table. "So, who's who?" he asked with a smirk. When he received many funny looks he clarified. "The Big Three reference; I can say without question the Rush would be Uncle Joe. I feel like Young would have to be FDR," he said with a thoughtful gaze.

Brody gave his a derisive scoff. "No way; he's got to be Churchill. He was a military man which fits perfectly with the Colonel. FDR had all of the social programs and was a huge political man. That's got Wray written all over it." Eli looked up in thought and nodded in agreement quickly.

* * *

><p>The elevator doors open loudly for the Colonel as they grinded across the floor. He ignored the sound and walked right out heading for the Bridge. They had dropped out around six hours ago, but he hadn't bothered investigating anything until now. This was the only destination on the ship he actually used the elevator for, which made him realize just how small of an area they occupied on <em>Destiny<em>. He made the short walk to the Bridge to find the door open with Sergeant Greer guarding it. Seeing the Sergeant there told him that Rush was on the Bridge.

"Afternoon, Sergeant," Young greeted as he walked up to him.

"Sir," he responded, standing tall and respectfully nodding his head.

The Colonel proceeded to enter the Bridge. His suspicion was confirmed as he saw Rush leaning over the console at the head of the room. He walked in noisily which introduced his presence to the scientist. Rush rose and turned around. "Hello, Colonel."

Young continued to walk and made his way to the captain's chair. "Anything to report?" he asked as he settled in.

Rush shrugged and moved to each of the three stations, taking brief readings before going to the next one. "There's nothing major to report today. There's a dark-matter nebula half a light year away from us. _Destiny_ is actively scanning it right now; I may look over that later. We've only got one Stargate in range, but it's a desert planet with nothing useful in the immediate area. Eli went to retrieve the Kino; I imagine he returned a while ago."

"Not what I meant," Young said once Rush stopped talking long enough for him to say something.

"I know what you meant," Rush responded with more than a hint of aggravation. "You've asked me the same question every day for the last three weeks."

"I know, you remind how long I've done it for every time I ask," Young countered with a tilt of his head.

The scientist looked at Young for a moment and then calmed down. "No, there's no change."

"Fine," Young said, satisfied to get a direct answer. He was getting slightly anxious about waiting, but he didn't show it. "Is there any new intelligence on the Nati ships?"

At this Rush didn't quibble. He navigated to the center station and activated the overhead monitor. "They've been maintaining similar progress since I've been observing them more closely. I envy them their shipyards because they just finished up on another ship." The monitor showed a map of the galaxy with a tactical overlay.

"That makes it four more ships in the last three weeks," Young vocalized, astonished at the capabilities of this foe.

"More than likely they are just commissioning ships that were already in construction when their fleet was massacred," Rush reasoned, also slightly intimidated by a rapidly growing enemy.

"By a force that we still don't know anything about," the Colonel appended snidely, still quite unhappy that some mysteries were unsolved.

Rush stopped and looked uncomfortably at Young. "Yeah, I've still got no idea who did that. I tried using the weapon signatures from the debris field to search for similar energy signatures when we are in normal space. That hasn't done a bloody thing," he said with disappointment. After a short moment of reflecting he turned back to the terminal. "Anyways, the new ships are following similar patterns of reclaiming their colonies. We should be safe from them," he reassured, sitting in the chair and turning to face Young.

The Colonel watched the monitor for a minute before lowering his eyes to Rush. He felt well rested for once and tapped his fingers the chair in anxiety. Constantly waiting for something to happen had his nerves slightly on the edge. "I guess everything's worked out alright then."

"How do you mean, Colonel?" Rush asked slowly, sitting straight up in his chair. The tone sounded almost like an accusation of something, but that was just how Rush spoke sometimes and Young had learned to ignore it.

"We'll be out of Nati space in a week at most, meaning we can breathe easy. The Nati also seem to have the resources and willpower to rebuild their civilization. I didn't wake up from stasis with the intention of annihilating an entire species, so I guess I'm… happy there's something of them left."

Rush leaning back into his chair and gave Young a cold look. "Is that how you see it?" The Colonel gave him a short nod, but braced himself for whatever insight he was about to gain into Rush's mind. "Yeah, we'll be out of their space soon enough. I wouldn't celebrate about that though. From what we learned about the Nati, they maintained full control within their empire; it was just them. With access to their communications," he gestured up to the monitor above him, "we could follow them and be prepared. Out of their space, we have no idea what will await us. Maybe their empire stops here because something worse lies beyond it; we don't know. And as for their… continued survival, well I'm pretty sure they'll rebuild, repopulate, and expand their empire once again; maybe annihilate a few more civilizations in the process. We already know what they do when they encounter a threat to their power." Rush stared darkly at the Colonel. "The rest of the galaxy might've considered it a service to them if they had actually been destroyed."

"Wow," Brody said from the door to the Bridge, staring blankly at Rush, "just when I thought you couldn't get any more grim." He was standing in between Volker and Eli, and all of them had the same expression directed to Rush. The Scotsman shrugged off the comment and turned his chair to face the controls. Everyone moved to take their customary positions, Volker at the left station, Brody at the right, and Eli at the rear science station.

"I don't know if anyone cares, but the Kino recorded some interesting EM patterns from that planet," Eli said after a minute of silence. "Apparently the planet has a weak magnetic field, coupled with an A-Type main sequence star that puts out killer infrared. Guess that makes sense why there was no life there. I was there for a minute and was nearly boiled alive." He gestured to the chest of his shirt which was sweat-stained. "I'd have changed into something else, but… well, you know…" he drifted off when no one paid much attention to him.

"Doesn't really matter we didn't get anything useful here," Volker chipped in. "The hydroponics bay in the dome should have fresh food ready in a couple months, and we've got enough on board right now to last us that long if it had to."

Young nodded while staring down at the ground. "Seems like we are on pretty good ground," he said, more towards Rush than anyone else.

Rush slightly turned as if he was going to retort, but something on his terminal caught his attention. "Colonel…" was all he said.

Before anyone noticed anything, before there was any odd sound, Rush heard something no one else did. A soft, disembodied voice that raised the hairs on his neck spoke to him. "It's time," Amanda whispered to him, the voice fading immediately, being replaced by something everyone heard.

A dull sound echoed through the bulkheads of the ship, somewhat akin to the whine of an underground metro. It grew in strength for a quick second and then immediately subsided. From the front window, Rush could see the lights casted onto the hull from the windows flicker for a moment and then come back on. This wave started at the nose and left a brief area of darkness in segments of the hull as it worked its way across the ship. When it reached the Bridge compartment, all of the electronics in the room flickered for a brief moment as well, throwing all of the occupants into the dark. Within a few seconds, the lights were steady and the only noise they heard was the hum of the engines.

"What in the _hell_ was that?" Greer said, standing dumbfounded in the doorway to the Bridge.

Allowing himself only a moment to be in wonder, Rush quickly turned to his console and frantically brought up the sensor telemetry from the event. In that moment, the countdown clock pinged sharply. Everyone felt the bulkheads shake mildly as the ship's thrusters activated and adjusted their heading. Within another moment, the ship's engines began to whine loudly and the floor rumbled. A blinding blue-white light shined through the windows, and _Destiny_ was in F.T.L.

"How the…?" Volker started, staring quickly from the window in front of him to the clock at the other end of the room. "We had over four hours left on the clock! Why did we jump?"

Young sat in his chair silently for a moment as he watched the scientists voice their concerns and ask questions. After that, he looked to Rush, who had actually been doing something useful, and addressed him. "Rush, what just happened?" The Scotsman didn't respond immediately, which quickly pissed him off. "Rush!"

"_Destiny_ received a transmission," he said quietly. Slowly he spun in his chair and looked Young right in the face. "A signal."

Without any further information, the Colonel understood what this meant. He stood from his chair and walked up closer to the forward consoles. "What did it do?" His first concern was still to the ship and the people on it, and he needed to know everything about this event.

"It was a subspace pulse, carrying a small data sequence within it; that was the source of the disturbance. The high energy must've affected systems for a short moment," Rush explained.

"Then what did we hear?" Eli asked, following in Young's steps and moving to the head of the room.

Rush turned to look at him. "That was the message."

"What message?!" Brody said angrily, making fists in the air. "Stop talking in code; just get to the point."

Sighing impatiently, Rush turned back to his console and pressed a few buttons. A slow sound played over the speakers, filled with static, beeps, whirs, and pulses. Eli raised his eyebrows and looked at the speakers. "So we're cursed with having AOL dial-up."

Giving Eli the stink eye before speaking, Rush explained. "That was the message carried on the pulse."

"What's on it?" Young asked.

* * *

><p>The holo-display activated and showed a map of the galaxy again, only this time, there was a new addition to the map. Right in front of <em>Destiny<em>'s flight plan, there was a small glowing dot. "Coordinates?" Eli asked incredulously. "That was the message?" All of the senior officers were crowded around Rush's console in the Control Interface Room, anxiously awaiting his explanation of recent events. Young was resting by the core with Volker, Brody, and Kalin by his side.

"Coordinates to what?" Wray asked pointedly, standing off his shoulder.

He proceeded to zoom in on the display to show a solar system. "A planet located sixteen light-years away. There's no Stargate on it, but it is within the Goldilocks zone, so it can most likely support life."

"So you're saying another civilization just hacked us?" Eli asked, trying to reason this.

"No," Rush said bluntly. "The information, when I translated it from the machine code, was definitely Ancient."

Eli shuffled uncomfortably before speaking again. "So… there are Ancients out here? I'm sorry, but that makes even less sense."

Rush sighed in exasperation. "It was an automated transmission, similar to the one we received at the Nati planet. Most likely there is an Ancient installation that was deposited by a seed ship that sent the pulse. I've since confirmed that it's related to the transmission from the Nati planet, actually. Apparently it was awaiting input."

"So, it's all part of some million year old plot from the Ancients?" Eli tried one more time, this time with a comical expression and a chuckle.

"That's actually pretty much it, yeah," Rush responded which left his interlocutor wide-eyed. "There's something on this planet that is important enough the Ancients created a plan to make sure we would find it." Unhappily, Rush modified the display to show a wider area and Nati vessels. "Unfortunately, we're not the only ones who know about it."

"Crap," Eli muttered as he saw a flurry of red dots on their way to the planet.

"The subspace signal travelled across a wide radius, to make sure it could reach _Destiny_. I'm not sure if there was a Nati ship that didn't hear it," he said glumly. "Their lead ship is much closer than we are and will beat us there by six hours. Any reinforcements should arrive about a day behind that."

"What would they find there?" Brody inquired, arms folded with a look that burned into Rush.

He didn't answer at once, instead gazing at the blinking dot. "Do you think I would know?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure you do know," he said bluntly, taking a large step forward and dropping his arms to his sides.

Rush started to reciprocate but Young stopped him. "Rush, stop. This is the right time."

Clearly he didn't want to agree with the Colonel, but Rush surrendered, feeling inside that it was time. "Fine. I do know what is there." He sighed and leaned forward, grasping for words for a little while. "I'm not really sure where to begin."

"Start from the very beginning; it'll make the most sense," Wray suggested.

"The beginning," he mused to himself. Everyone other than Young and Wray perked up and got ready to listen to a long story. "Well, you all know that when the Ancients discovered the signal embedded in the microwave background radiation, they built _Destiny_ to try and reconstruct the signal, uncover who sent it and what it contained. What you don't know, is that it almost wasn't launched." Rush paused and took a moment to turn off the display as he found it to be annoying. "Within the data entries stored on the computer are lengthy texts devoted to philosophical debates. They dealt with whether or not to actually launch _Destiny_. A large sect of Ancients believed the construct was hidden and broken apart for a reason. They claimed that whatever knowledge it contained would be too great, too divine. To fuel their campaign, they compared that drive for power to the Ori. That conflict was still recent history for them at that time, and so they amassed a large following. After _Destiny_ had been completed, the mission was abandoned; it wasn't launched.

"The lead architect of the mission, Palos, also the scientist who first discovered the construct, continued to petition that the mission had to be undertaken. He wasn't successful for a while, but one day he completely changed. Suddenly his opinions were more assertive, he advocated heavily for the launch, gave an impromptu speech to the scientific community, and managed to succeed in launching _Destiny_; all in the course of one day." Rush stopped here and took a slightly lengthy pause.

Everyone gave him a slightly strange look, not seeing anything in this other than a history lesson. "So, what's the big deal?" Eli asked as the voice for the rest of the officers.

Rush took a moment to scratch his chin before continuing, not relishing telling the story. "When Palos was found the next day, his personality had gone back to its original self and he had no memory of the previous day. He couldn't remember launching _Destiny_, or having worked so hard to launch it. Within a week he was murdered by a fanatic on the opposing side of the argument; it was a tragedy for the Ancients and set their community to a more progressive stance. Among his personal affects, there were two items that were surprising. One was a communications stone that had been severely modified." At that moment his voice started to break, and he grew very quiet. "The second object was a peice of paper with one word written on it, in a language the Earth wouldn't see for many millions of years." He reactivated the display with one button, and showed an image of a document with the word 'Destiny' scrawled into it in English.

Everyone's eyes bulged and Eli's jaw practically dropped. Stepping forward, Brody closely examined the writing. "But that's…" He couldn't finish, but Rush did for him.

"That's my handwriting."

Wray and Young both stared at the ground, allowing the impact to sink into everyone. They went through it themselves; they knew how it felt. Kalin's hand slowly made his way to cover his mouth as he gasped silently. Volker back stepped to the nearest chair, sat down, and froze. Brody and Eli continued to watch Rush intently, waiting for him to finish this tale.

"Apparently, Palos had a plan the entire time; one to ensure the launch of _Destiny_. He knew without a doubt that the mission was important and would have stunning results. So he took two communication stones and modified them. He linked them so they could only communicate with each other. One he kept with himself, and froze its quantum signature, anchoring the link in the past with him, at the exact second he imprinted upon it. The second one was secretly placed on a seed ship with a special objective; to have a member of _Destiny_'s future crew encounter it and take over his body with the desire to save the launch. That stone, is here," he said, returning to the map on the holo-display and pointing at the blinking planet. "If we don't go there, and if I don't use that stone to return to the launch date of _Destiny_, then none of this will have ever happened. This ship will be scrapped, an entire chapter of Ancient history will be destroyed, and we will never arrive here."

"Are. You. F_reaking _kidding me?!" Eli shouted, flailing his arms and taking a lap around the core in frustration. "You knew about something that could possibly erase the last five years of our lives and kept it to yourself?"

"We agreed to keep this quiet until this moment," Young interjected. He knew the conversation would head in this direction and had hoped to speak up before that happened; Eli ruined is hopes. Brody gave him an appalled look, having expected that from Rush, not the Colonel. "If this had been exposed to the crew too early, then we could have expected a panic, and maybe even violent actions that wouldn't give us the chance to fairly discuss this. Before any of you say anything," he said gruffly to everyone, "we will tell the crew and bring it to a vote. They will decide if we do this, as this is a matter that directly affects all of them." His glare was mostly at Rush, who mentally hated the Colonel for potentially ruining his life's work.

"You can speak for me this time, Colonel. You've heard this three times now, and from my experience in two timelines, the crew rarely responded well to me addressing them," Rush said as courteously as possible. He rose from his console and turned off the display. "I trust you do be fair for my case. For the time being, I'll wait in my quarters and lock the door to keep out blood-thirsty crew members." He spoke sincerely to Young about his trust, and received a short nod of approval. Slowly turning and glancing at the occupants of the room, he let out a long breathe. "I imagine you know what my vote will be," he said as he turned and left.

* * *

><p>Young stood at the top of the balcony of the Gate Room. Crammed into the lower floor was the entire crew of the <em>Destiny<em>, with the exception of Rush. The senior officers stood by the control consoles, having already heard the news. The sight of the crew gathered here was one that the Colonel was accustomed to in the early days of their stay on _Destiny_, but saw less and less as time went on. Once the room fell silent, he descended the staircase and stopped halfway. From there he had a perfect speaking point and could see everyone in the room, including the senior officers in his peripheral. He took a moment to prepare himself, knowing he had only one chance to say things right.

"We've asked the crew to come here, to help make a very… difficult decision. I will be speaking for Dr. Rush who chose not to be here right now. As of this moment, _Destiny_ is on course for a planet that is a part of mission the Ancients left for us. This is a different mission than we have been pursuing in recent months, but its success will determine if we will continue on…"

_Rush walked into his quarters. Stopping at the threshold, he palmed the control lock and sealed the door. It was a moment before he lumbered over to his bed and sat on the edge. He took a Kino remote from his desk and activated it. Having been modified with a wireless link into the ship's computer, he could access all the data he wanted. Scrolling through the thousands of data files, he pulled up a biography on Palos. It showed the picture of a middle-aged man dressed in a sand-colored cloak, typical of Ancient garb of the time_…

"…The how is not something I can explain, but the stone will allow Dr. Rush to occupy the Ancient that launched this ship. All of this was planned millions of years ago by this man, in the hope that we, the crew of _Destiny_, would come across this device…"

…_After slapping a large piece of paper on his wall, Rush sharpened a pencil with a small knife. He set to work writing long and complex equations on the paper, half composed of mathematical and physical constants and half composed of 'Gate symbols as variables. Muddling through the numbers and variables he continued to work on solving problems. Time spent solving such mysteries was what he liked doing best anyways…_

"…realize that this is not the same thing as going home. We're not opening a wormhole back to Earth. _Destiny_ will not go on without us. Every moment that was affected by the launch over sixty million years ago, will be rewritten. The Icarus project will never happen, and we will never come here. _Destiny_… will never be launched, this mission will remain incomplete, and who knows what else will change in history. This isn't to say that the last five years haven't been difficult and that there are people we'd rather be with back on Earth…"

…_Videos were playing on the remote; Kino dairies that the crew had made when they first reached _Destiny_. Everyone mentioned family members on Earth, and how afraid they were; afraid of dying so far away from home. A recording Riley made came up; he said how hard it was, not being there with the people you loved…_

"…As I said when I started, the decision should rest with you, the entire crew, as to whether we will continue moving forward… or end this journey right now."

* * *

><p>Rush watched the F.T.L. vortex wisp across the wing of the <em>Destiny<em>. He rested his arms up by the window and placed his chin on top of his arms. For what felt like the longest time to him, he just stood there and watched.

Around two hours after he had locked himself in his room, someone knocked on his door. "Rush, are you in there?" Young asked, his voice coming through muffled. Rush didn't react and Young knocked again. Taking a small breathe, Rush walked away from the window and unlocked the door. He took a few steps back and rested on his bed, allowing the Colonel to walk in.

As he entered the room he craned his neck around to look at all of the papers stuck to the wall. The room was a chaotic place, with more crumpled and torn papers on the ground. "The crew voted," he started quietly, looking at Rush with no emotion, "unanimously to continue."

Much like the Colonel, Rush showed no emotion at the news. "That's not surprising, really," he said, which for a second made Young fume at his attitude. Rush continued to amend his statement. "I mean from a temporal point of view; causality. If the crew had voted to do nothing, we wouldn't be having his conversation. Time would have already rewritten itself and I'd be at Berkeley, giving a lecture blissfully unaware of what could have been."

Young shook his head in disbelief, at how this man could always pull science to explain away anything. Finally, he loosened up and allowed himself a chuckle. "You're never going to stop surprising me, are you?"

"What'd be the fun in that?" Rush said. He tapped his fingers together for a moment and then looked to the floor. Turning back to the Colonel, he started to speak with sincere emotion, stammering a little bit. "Colonel, thank you… for trusting me, and for being on my side. I don't think I can tell you how much that means to me."

"I can guess. I've informed Earth of our mission; I can't say they loved it, but they support the decision."

Rush smirked. "Can't imagine how Colonel Telford reacted to the news."

He raised his eyebrows and grimaced, indicating it wasn't a pleasant conversation. "We'll be planning our approach in the Control Room in an hour; I imagine you'll want to be there," he informed, turning to leave.

"Colonel, there is one thing… I'd like to speak to you about." Young stopped and slowly turned around, inwardly hoping that he hadn't just misplaced his trust. "I think the transmission contained more than just a lockout code. There was an AI that helped me to find out this mission." He paused and choked on his words. "It was… Dr. Perry."

"That can't be; her program is still in quarantine with Ginn," Young said, walking up to Rush quickly and lowering his voice. "Eli keeps checking on them regularly, so if you're going to tell me that you set her loose…"

The lights dimmed and the doors slid closed. Young rapidly turned around and looked concerned, but Rush knew what was happening. "He didn't, Colonel. You don't have to worry about me." Turning around again, Young saw Perry standing on the other side of the bed. "I'm sorry for the lights; projecting my image into multiple people takes a lot of power."

Maintaining his calm, Young looked at Rush with the corner of his eyes. "You knew that she escaped?"

"Let me explain, to both of you," Perry interjected, dissolved the tension. "I never appeared to Nick for more than a moment, and I couldn't tell him my true origin." She walked around the bed and stopped in front of both of them, smiling that she could talk freely now. "You won't be the only one to go to _Destiny_'s launch date. In the first iteration my program was sent through the stones via your neural patterns. My objective was to provide protection for the stones. The Nati were made to provide that defense, but I will admit they became… overzealous."

"They've been trying to kill us," Young said candidly, with a bit of anger seeping into his voice. "Seems pretty counterproductive to me."

Dr. Perry acknowledged his point by bowing her head. "True, but it cannot be denied that their ruthlessness has protected this region of space."

The Colonel sighed and reluctantly agreed with her "Ruthlessly efficient," he commented.

Smiling, she stepped up directly before Rush. "I've been waiting all this time for you to return," she said, holding back her emotions. Looking at Rush, for a moment it seemed she could cry. "I couldn't tell you this before; I couldn't let you know how much this meant to me. But the truth is that it isn't about me, so there's no time. You need to release the quarantine and take your Perry with you. Explain everything to her. She'll understand; trust me." She grinned, kneeling down to be level with Rush. For once, he showed an emotion to her other than anger; he was happy to see her.

"Why can't we send your program?" Young asked pointedly, interrupting her focus on Rush. "If you've already done this, then won't that make the most sense?"

"I…" she started, looking away from Rush for a moment, "I have my own journey to embark on." When she looked up again, her eyes emitted a bright blue light. The power in Rush's quarters suddenly surged to life. Perry stood up and smiled widely. She stretched out her hand and touched Rush. He gasped when he actually felt her and was left speechless. "I have to go." Her voice was real. It didn't just appear in his head, it reverberated through the room. "A mutual friend will explain everything." She leaned forward and kissed him lightly. Smiling at him, she backed away. Her veins were glowing blue as well, and her aura was visible. "I love you. It's good-bye for now, but I'll see you; I know that for certain. You are _Destiny_; you are its present, future, and now its past." A pulse surged from her heart and swept across her skin, turning her figure into a shining, blue-white light. The pulse moved through the room quickly. Rush felt a burst of heat as it washed over him. Her shapeless figure floated through the room and passed through the wall, vanishing into the F.T.L. vortex.

"Mandy," Rush whispered as he watched her disappear. He walked up to the window and struggled to find her, but had no success.

They stood in the room silently for a minute, the sound and light from outside poured into the room. "Rush," the Colonel said quietly, taking a step towards to scientist, "what just happened?"

"She's gone," he said to himself. Taking a deep breath he composed himself and turned to face Young. "I honestly can't tell you what that was. I promise you I'm not keeping anything from you… I…" he trailed off slowly, tearing up and bringing his hands to cover his face.

"It's alright. I believe you," Young reassured. "You did well this time around, and if we're gonna stay on this ship then I can't keep holding a grudge against you." He sighed and slowly lumbered up to Rush, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Let's get this thing done, okay?"

Rush sniffled and held back his tears. He took a few long breaths and brought himself back to normal. Feeling at ease again, he nodded to the Colonel. Returning the look, Young turned and left the room, giving Rush a chance to collect his thoughts.

* * *

><p>Eli sat at one of the consoles in the Control Interface Room and was drumming his fingers on the console. Brody was seated at the station by the core and Volker was at the third station. Wray and Young stood side by side in front of Eli. Greer, Varro, and Scott were at the far end of the room chatting between themselves. "How much longer are we gonna wait for him?" Eli finally asked impatiently.<p>

"As long as it takes Eli," the Colonel said shortly. "He'll get here when he's well and ready."

At that moment, Rush came strolling into the room. He appeared normal, not a sign of sadness or any negative emotion on him. Seeing everyone gathered in the room he raised his hand apologetically. "Hope you haven't been waiting too long for me."

"We were just getting ready to plan our approach on the planet. I asked Eli to prepare Dr. Perry's program for transport," he said carefully to Rush.

"I brought down the quarantine around Dr. Perry and Ginn. Perry's program has already been transferred to the forward communication array," Eli informed in the same calm manner. He was inwardly jumping for joy at the thought Ginn could be back, but realized this meant the opposite for Rush. For the moment he figured he could keep his emotions calm.

When Rush responded casually with a nod to the information, Young went on. "Got any suggestions for the attack?" he asked.

The holo-display popped into existence as Eli activated it. It showed a red dot rapidly approaching the planet, with _Destiny_ a distance behind it. Rush glanced at it and slowly walked up to the display. "Well it is only one ship right now. We've taken on more than that before; I don't see any problem."

"So we drop out and destroy their ship, quickly," Young summarized. "Scott, you'll take Rush down to the planet and…" he paused and turned to look at Rush. "Do you know where we have to look on the planet?"

He looked over his shoulder to the Colonel but kept the display facing him. "Not yet, no. But it should be easy to find. The stone will require a powerfully energy source to be able to send my signal through time. A simple scan of the surface should be able to reveal its location."

"Simple as that?" Eli asked lightly, shrugging his shoulders.

"The work on this end shouldn't prove to be too much. However," Rush said, turning around to face the whole room, "once I am connected I will need to be protected. According to Palos' account, he missed almost a whole day, so that's how long I'll be connected."

"Well, the Nati reinforcements will arrive here before that time is up," Brody informed, adjusting the display to show a wider area in which several more red dots could be seen, all heading for the same planet. "I doubt if we can handle a half-dozen ships as easily."

"Hopefully we won't have to," Wray said calmly. "The closest ship would arrive twenty-two hours after we get there, and it would only be one. They all have significant gaps in arrival times, so we shouldn't be swarmed at any one moment. And if we hurry and get Rush back on board once he's done, we can leave just as quickly."

"So it's all about the timing. A wonderful, time-travel, space battle, and getting out of the frying pan relay race," Eli said perkily.

"Let's go get a gold in this," Volker replied excitedly. Everyone else merely turned to look at him with frowns, and he slunk into his seat dismayed.

"I'm more worried about the fact that they'll be there for six hours," Greer said pointing at the ship ahead of them. "There's no telling how many troops they can put on the surface in that time."

Varro took a step forward and looked a little uncomfortable. "I've been doing inventories on our weapon supplies, and we're getting dangerously low on ammo. Recently I finished making a mold to make bullets with, but I don't have the raw materials to make them with." Young looked at him in surprise, having just learned about this project. "It was something I learned to do with the Alliance," he explained. Varro could hate them with a passion, but they were resourceful and it taught him a lot.

The Colonel nodded his head in approval. "Well, I guess we should add those materials to the shopping list next time we go off-world."

"I expected you might have that concern," Rush said suddenly, smirking at Greer, "and may have a solution. Kalin!" he shouted into the hallway.

He appeared a few seconds later pushing a Kino sled. There was a blanket covering it that had some large objects under it. Kalin stopped it in the middle of the room by the core. Striding to it, Rush grabbed the blanket. "Now, I can't take the credit for this one, but you might find it useful nonetheless." He pulled off the blanket and tossed it onto the ground. On the table were a half dozen Nati rifles. They were short weapons, but somewhat stocky, having a thick barrel and a long handle.

"We got those weapons from the Nati base," Young recalled, walking up and picking one of them up. "I also remember that they didn't work for us."

"Yes, well apparently the Nati installed a failsafe so that only their species could use the weapon, similar to the ATA gene," Rush explained, pointing to the trigger. A small piece of it was a slick gel-layer which he indicated to be the interface. "You can thank Kalin for getting around that problem."

Kalin flared up slightly from the recognition. "It wasn't too hard really. I just had to interface with the weapons software and change the accepted genome. The Nati were human, but having evolved on another planet, their genetic structure was slightly different, which accounted for their system rejecting you." He pointed at various people, referring to their descent from Earth. "Luckily, I'm only a couple of thousand years removed from you, so it still accepts my genome," he said with a grin.

"Also, since they are energy weapons, their power supply can be recharged on the plate here," Rush added, indicating the blue core at the butt of the rifle. "With the occasional maintenance, they should last us indefinitely.

Young handled the weapon for a moment, feeling the weight of it. He leveled it and looked down the sights. Satisfied, he put it back on the sled. "Good work, both of you; these should come in handy." He turned to Greer at this point. "Sergeant, I want you to organize a team to escort Dr. Rush to the planet. Take Kalin and have a little weapons training in the firing range." A long time ago, they had converted one of the innermost cargo bays in a firing range, but with ever decreasing amounts of bullets, it didn't get used much. "We've got eight hours until we reach this planet. I want all of you to be rested and prepared for what's to come. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>Wray passed through the hallways and soon found herself in the well lit Infirmary. It was a relief to see all of the beds empty. A new piece of equipment sat by the first bed, its large thick scanning arm hanging high above the bed. Once TJ had figured out how the new scanner worked, she had it moved to the Infirmary to be put to use. Sitting at the far desk, TJ was resting comfortably reading from her laptop. Wray noticed a cup of tea on her desk; the tea bag was one that she had made for the crew to enjoy. She smiled lightly to herself when she saw it. Knocking on the frame of the door, she announced her presence.<p>

"Oh, hi," TJ chirped as she looked up, closing her laptop. "How's everything going?" She rose and walked up to Wray.

"Everything's fine," she reassured. "I'm not here to complain about anything."

TJ continued to look cheerful. "Well that's good."

"We should be at the planet in a few hours," she explained. "I just figured… if things go south during the attack… that you might want to have an extra pair of hands down here." She was no use on the Bridge for the fight, and she wouldn't help in any military way. This was the only thing she could think of as a contribution.

"Oh, sure," she said, smiling. "I'd appreciate that."

"Good, I just hope nothing bad happens," Wray said sincerely, wishing that something would work according to plan. "I think we could all appreciate some smooth sailing for once."

Chuckling agreeably, TJ sat on the nearest bed. "It would be nice."

Wray sighed and gave her a wide smile. "I'll just head to my quarters. Get some rest before everything goes down." She got a small nod from TJ before she turned around. On the way out she bumped into Varro, startling her slightly. He apologized as Wray walked out of the Infirmary.

He lumbered over to TJ and sat down next to her. "I'm going with the team to escort Dr. Rush to the planet," he told her, sitting straight and looking right at her.

Resting her chin on his shoulder for a moment, she just stared at him. "Just be careful," she asked.

"I will," he chuckled, leaning in slowly and gave her a quick kiss.

"I know you will," she responded with a grin.

* * *

><p>Half a dozen Airman marched into the firing range, lead by Greer. Behind all of them was Kalin pushing the sled with Scott by his side. The cargo bay had already been mostly empty when they boarded <em>Destiny<em>, and its incredible length made it perfect for this use. Three thick targets had been placed at the other end of the room with an adequately hand-drawn bull's-eye on them. Kalin stopped the sled by the door and gave one to Greer, one to Scott, and grabbed one for himself.

Greer gave Kalin a comical expression. "You sure you want to use that?"

"I've worked with this weapon for a long time, and I've personally tested it," he returned, playing a tough-guy attitude that he had learned worked well with the Sergeant. "You'll need someone to teach you how to work it right."

Smiling widely, Greer gestured to the firing range. "Be my guest."

Kalin took the offer and walked up with the light weapon. He activated the power core and lowered the intensity to a safe level. Switching off the built-in safety he pulled up a small iron sight across the barrel of the weapon. He extended the butt of the rifle and raised the weapon, resting it against his shoulder. All of this he did quickly and expertly. Lightly tapping the trigger, he fired a small blue jet of energy into the center of the target ahead of him. The energy washed over the target and quickly dissipated, leaving a small scorch mark where he hit it. Quickly pivoting left he fired another perfect shot at the next target, and snapping to the right, hit the third target, each time without any kickback. Lowering the weapon and reactivating the safety, he turned and gazed proudly to Greer.

Still smiling, Greer stepped up to the firing range. "Not bad," he said.

Accepting the compliment, Kalin lifted his weapon and explained some of the dials and buttons. "This weapon doesn't have a stun/kill setting. But you can adjust the strength of the pulse with this dial, setting four being the most effective for combat," he said, sliding a small, sticky digital knob around. The higher the power setting, the brighter the power core glowing, providing a visual cue. "It fires a semi-automatic directed energy pulse with a point-zero-three second recharge and cooling time. Overheating shouldn't be a problem. I could spend an hour talking about the features of the weapon," he admitted, handing his gun off to Airman Richmond. "You'd probably rather have some practice with them instead."

"Still think I prefer our rifles," Scott complained, holding the weapon uncomfortably. His usual weapon had a much longer barrel which allowing him to stretch his arm out to support it. This smaller weapon fit slightly awkwardly in his grasp.

"You'll get used to it," Greer said simply, charging the weapon to the fourth setting and raising it. He fired a trio of shots at his target, the pulses briefly illuminating the room. The weapon whirred loudly when it was fired, but it was very quick before it settled down. The Sergeant lowered the weapon and examined it again. Nodding, he held it comfortably and looked to Scott. "I like it."

* * *

><p>The Observation Deck was always a favorite of the crew to visit when in F.T.L. The view was amazing and relaxing, but right now only Eli was sitting on the couch. Everyone else chose to spend their preparation time sleeping or double checking the weapons and shields. Eli came here, figuring that every now and then, he could trust things were going right without him and just take a break.<p>

"Hi Eli," Ginn said from the other end of the couch. A smile crept onto his face as he heard her voice. Honestly, ever since he had released the quarantine he had been waiting to see her. He turned to look at her and gave her a full smile once he saw her. She was just the way that he had remembered her. Sitting comfortably in the chair, as much as it seemed she could since she wasn't really there, she returned the smile to him. "I've missed you."

"I haven't stopped hoping to see you again," he said. Instinct told him to move closer and hold her, but his mind reminded him of the one problem in doing that. "I never got to apologize, for locking you up," he said sadly, his eyes reflecting guilt.

She stared at him in mild shock, upset that he blamed himself. "No, don't feel that way. I told you to do that, to keep Dr. Perry from hurting Rush again."

"Yeah, well she's not going to be here much longer." Saying that almost made him feel bad; he couldn't blame Dr. Perry for what she did, even if it did make life harder for him.

"Spending all that time in quarantine," Ginn started, taking a moment to look outside the window, "I had a lot of chances to get to know her." She paused and turned back to Eli, her expression somber. "She regrets what she did."

He sighed, feeling a little worse now. "I don't really blame her for anything. If anything, the whole problem started with Rush." Ginn gave him a look that told him to stop. "Right, not exactly what you waited three years to talk to me about."

"You've got to look forward," she said, gazing around the room. "There's no room for blame here; just progress."

Eli chuckled and watched her, just feeling happy right now. "You're right. It's just… it's just good to see you again." He smiled warmly to her, just wanting to be able to reach out and be stopped by flesh and blood, not pass through her. "What was it like, stuck in there?"

She shrugged. "At first it was… uncomfortable. Dr. Perry wouldn't speak with me. We interacted with a virtual _Destiny_ that was built from both of our memories. She locked herself in the Observation Deck for a long time."

"Sounds like it got tedious really fast," he commented.

"I did some exploring, but we didn't have too much memory within our quarantine; our minds could only render so much of an environment," she reflected, speaking quietly on the events. "I couldn't create any characters without more memory. You might have separated where we were in memory, but that doesn't mean I couldn't do a lot with that space. I created new compression protocols and modified the buffer to be more efficient. With the new processing power I made a program that created several NPCs for the environment and instituted a random event generator, trying to bring some action to life."

Eli's eyes bugged out and he stared at her incredulously. "You did _all_ of that, in there?" She nodded modestly. "Wow, I am really glad I've got you back here."

Ginn smiled happily at his recognition. "Anyways, soon after that Dr. Perry started to leave the Observation Deck. At first she was distraught; absolutely horrified at what had happened to us. It took awhile, but she started to take up an interest in things again. She never did stop regreting though. I wouldn't call our existence exciting or anything, but it was alright." She stopped and looked at Eli, taking her turn to watch him. "So tell me, what have you been up to?"

He let out a short puff of air and guffawed. "Oh boy, where to begin?"

* * *

><p>Sitting in the Captain's chair, Young watched the monitors descend, informing him that they should be getting close to their target. Brody, Volker, and Kalin were stationed at the front three stations with Eli at the aft station. Rush was preparing the shuttle with Lt. Scott, so he could take-off as quickly as possible.<p>

"We're approaching the planet," Volker informed, judging the approach vectors and planet's coordinates. "I don't know exactly where we'll drop out, but there's a good chance it won't be on top of the Nati ship."

"Understood," Young said, having already come to this conclusion on his own a while ago. "Brody, final check; how are the weapons?"

Humoring the Colonel, he checked the systems one final time. "All weapon platforms are fully powered and operational. Main weapon is on stand-by for deployment moment we exit F.T.L. Shields and sublight drive are all functional."

"Good to hear." He looked to the small terminal on the side of his chair and activated the comm line to the shuttle. "Lt. Scott, I hope you're ready down there."

The response came in loudly over the Bridge's speakers. "Yes, sir. We're all aboard and the shuttle is ready to launch as soon as you give the word."

"Copy, Lieutenant." He punched off the line.

"Here we go," Brody announced. The tell-tale whine sounded through the ship. As the engines groaned to a halt, a blinding light flashed through the windows and deposited the ship back in normal space. In front of them was a large green world with two small moons. This region of space was thick with cosmic dust, which filled the expanse with a purple-red hue. The star shone brightly through all of the particles, creating a beautiful vista.

A flurry of sounds erupted from various stations, informing the crew of the new sensor information available. "Talk to me," Young ordered the moment they left F.T.L.

"The planet is dead ahead at a range of eighteen hundred kilometers. Thrusters of firing automatically," Volker said, interpreting the new navigational data. "Looks like we're plugged into a geosynchronous orbit over the planet."

"Main weapon is successfully deployed," Brody said shortly.

"Where's the Nati ship?" Young inquired, putting priorities first.

"She's on the far side of the planet," Eli answered after a brief second. "I'd say we haven't been spotted yet; they aren't moving to intercept yet."

Young immediately turned the comm back on. "Lieutenant, the enemy is on the other side of the planet and currently unaware of our position. Launch now while we're not discovered."

"Copy, sir." A series of beeps emanated from Kalin's console indicating the shuttle detaching from _Destiny_. Within a moment, the shuttle was flying across the bow of the ship, on a direct course for the planet.

"Eli, have you found the location of the stone?" Young asked, craning to look at him.

Taking a little longer to answer, Eli sorted through the new data trying to find that out. Finally he answered. "Got it; I'm reading a moderate power signature in the middle of the largest continent. Sending the coordinates to the shuttle," he said, hustling over to the communication station to transmit the information. "I'm also getting an automated message from the surface," he said with a curious expression. "It's in Ancient; I think it wants Perry's program."

"Send the program," Young ordered immediately. He knew they were on a time crunch and didn't want to give even a moment of hesitation.

Eli nodded in response and started the transmission. "It should only take a moment," he said quickly, and the beep that went off soon confirmed his statement.

"Lieutenant, confirm you received the coordinates," the Colonel asked. "Also, Dr. Perry's program has been transmitted to the planet."

"We've got them, and copy about Dr. Perry," he answered. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"You're not the only ones there," Eli announced worriedly, having returned to the science station. Young turned his chair around to look at him. "I'm reading at eight landed Nati fighters at that location and around twenty life signs in the adjacent area."

Young took a moment to sweat mentally before speaking. "Did you get that, Lieutenant?"

Static remained for a short second. "Yes, sir. I'll try to take a strafing run before I land; maybe I can clear out the area."

The Colonel was about to speak, but a low beep came from the back of the room. He turned to see Eli rushing to the communication station. "Colonel," he said dismally, "I think our cover just got busted. The Nati ship is sending a video and audio feed." He looked up with a confused expression. "I think they want to talk."

Frowning at this news, Young muted the line to the shuttle and grabbed the small Nati translator he had waiting on the arm of the chair. He stuck it to his temple, to which the device adhered to immediately. "Patch them in," he ordered, not really sure what to do.

Similarly unsure, Eli fiddled with the controls as this had never happened before. After a moment, the three monitors at the head of the room faded to static before showing a Nati control room with the commander at the center of the image. He was an aged man, and if the dozens of adornments on his uniform meant the same thing for the Nati as it did for human militaries, then he was a very decorated officer. There was a translator attached to his temple as well. A small chamber opened on the floor of the Bridge, right in front of the Captain's chair. Young leaned down to watch a Kino float up and stop right below the middle monitor, allowing the Colonel to watch the monitor and address the Kino without moving his heads. "That's cool!" he heard Eli exclaim at the sight.

Following expected protocol, Young looked at the Kino and addressed the Nati commander. "This is Colonel Everett Young of the _Destiny_. What do you want?"

The commander maintained a cold, intimidating countenance as he spoke. "I am Admiral Vesari, of the Imperial Defense Force for the Portan Nati. This is our protected space; you must withdraw immediately."

When Young didn't answer, Eli got curious. "What did he just say? I haven't got the Rosetta Stone for this sublanguage of Ancient."

"They're _asking_ us to leave," he informed, saying it slowly to emphasize his surprise.

"Since when have they played nice?" Volker commented. Young too was puzzled, having expected a more direct statement of authority, not just a statement.

"Maybe they're scared of us, after everything we've done," Eli suggested. It was a reasonable idea that Young accepted.

He sat up in his chair and watched the Kino adjust to follow his motion. "I'm sorry, but we didn't realize this was in your space. Unfortunately, we can't leave; our ship needs to remain in normal space for a minimum of four hours before continuing on," Young started, preferring to avoid mentioning the fact they just launched a shuttle to the planet. In his mind, a practical reason should work. "If you give us that time..."

"No, that is unacceptable," Vesari growled, cutting off the Colonel. "Nothing prevents you from using your sublight; make your way out of the solar system at once." He stared darkly at Young. "You have until we intercept your vessel to leave this area. After that, you will be considered a hostile craft and will be dealt with as such," Vesari threatened. The image vanished the next moment and the terminals once again displayed pertinent tactical data.

Young rapidly ripped off the translator, slamming it onto his console. "This just got harder. Volker, where's the enemy ship?" he asked in an urgent tone. The Kino quickly fell back into the opening in the floor that immediately sealed itself, blending into the floor.

He rushed to check his station, urged on by the seriousness of the situation. "Um… they're not moving," he said dumbfounded. He had assumed from the context of Young's statement that they should be approaching, but was as shocked as everyone else in the room.

Ignoring the surprising situation, Young un-muted the line to the shuttle. "Lt. Scott, be on the alert, our position has been made be a Nati warship. I don't know if they've detected you as of yet," he warned. On the left monitor he saw that the shuttle was getting close to the planet, but was still a couple of minutes away from the atmosphere.

"Understood, sir; we'll be careful," Scott assured.

"Hang on, Colonel, I'm reading a large power surge from the Nati ship!" Brody announced worriedly.

Before Young could ask for more information, Kalin shouted out. "A hyperspace window is opening above the planet!" They were significantly closer to the planet now than when they exited F.T.L. Only the northern hemisphere was visible from the Bridge, and when Young squinted he could make out the glimmer of the shuttle metallic hull. He didn't have any trouble seeing the massive blue-white vortex appear in front of the shuttle.

* * *

><p>"Rush, what is that?!" Scott shouted the moment a blinding mass of energy burst into existence before their shuttle. Without him having time to answer, the cloud flashed for a second, and left an enormous ship immediately before them. "Holy sh-!" He quickly pulled the shuttle up to avoid a collision as multiple alarms throughout the cockpit blared loudly. The shields sputtered to life as the bottom of the shuttle splashed against the hull of the warship. Everyone in the shuttle was jostled violently from the impact and spark flew from the consoles above Scott's head. Quickly leveling the shuttle, he piloted it along the hull, passing windows across its seamless and featureless hull. Suddenly, they dropped into a deep trench along the side of the ship, which was riddled with turrets and uneven hull patterns.<p>

A few of the nearby turrets quickly spun to point at the shuttle and launched fast moving bursts of boiling plasma. Scott weaved the shuttle around adroitly, avoiding the blasts.

"We might stand a better chance of survival if we leave this area!" Rush shouted, more like an order than a suggestion.

"I'm on it," Scott replied. He slowed the shuttle and pulled up gently, trying to ride up to the edge of the trench. On his way up, a turret on the opposite ridge successfully fired a shot at the starboard side of the shuttle. They were violently rocked around as the shuttle briefly spun out of control before escaping the trench. An explosion resonated from the right station where Corporal Barnes was posted, showering sparks and shrapnel around the cockpit. "Corporal, are you okay?" Scott asked, allowing himself a second to glance backwards at her.

She lifted herself off the ground and got back to the weapons station. "I'm fine, sir."

"Let's make sure that's the only hit we take," Rush warned, now that they had left the trench and were safely gliding along the hull that was devoid of weaponry. "That practically took out our shields; we wouldn't survive another shot from this ship."

Scott let out a puff of air, trying to calm his nerves. "Right, I'll try to be more careful." The hull of this ship was very long, longer than he thought it should be. For the time being, he didn't risk moving away from the ship, seeing as they were safe from the warship's weapons this close to the hull. "_Destiny_, we could use some cover fire on our approach to the planet," he said into the communicator. Static was returned to him.

"Communications and starboard weapons are also off-line," informed Rush, answering the inevitable questions.

"Damn. We've still got the coordinates, right?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of the hull that he was hovering a few meters above. He could see the bright blue glow of the engines at the rear of the ship resonating through the cosmic dust in the area, informing him he was nearly past their ship.

Rush grunted affirmatively. "Yes, they're patched into your navigation system."

Taking a deep breath, he quickly started tapping controls and piloting the craft more aggressively. "Then hold on!"

The engines roared to life as he pushed them to their maximum. They quickly sped across the remaining part of the ship and passed their engines. The warship's engines were incredibly loud as the craft passed over them. Finally, the ship was behind them and only the planet was visible, now very close. Within a moment a heat wave started to emanate from the nose of the ship as they passed through the atmosphere.

* * *

><p>"Eli, assessment," Young ordered, the moment he watched the behemoth of a ship exit the hyperspace window. It had the configuration of Nati ships they encountered previously, but it was significantly larger, with a flat nose and deep trenches that cut through both sides of the ship. On either ridge of the trenches he could make out a flurry of weapon emplacements, making it very dangerous to be to the side of the ship as <em>Destiny<em> was right now. In the center of the fat ship several small towers protruded from the top. The aft housed two massive engines flanked by a dozen smaller sublight drives. Between the large quantity of weapons and gigantic features of the ship, this seemed to pose a serious problem.

Staring at the monster of a ship for a second, Eli gawked at it, and Young thought he heard him mumble "All hail Galactica" before he tore his gaze away from it and moved to his science station, scanning the ship. "It's comparable to the ships we encountered before, but I'd say this is a capital ship. The power output from this thing is ridiculous!"

"Colonel," Volker called out, getting his attention, "the shuttle just passed the capital ship and is on the way to the planet."

"They're locking weapons on us!" Brody shouted. From the bottom ridge of the port side trench, at least a dozen blue pulses lashed out simultaneously. They rapidly closed the gap between starships and slammed into _Destiny_'s shield in the same instant. All the shots were concentrated on the mid-section of the ship, but the impact was still felt all the way up in the Bridge. The hull quaked moderately and a few sparks flew from Volker's station. A second volley of weapons fire came from the top ridge, striking _Destiny_ in the same place. The shields flared brightly in that area, shaking the bulkheads in the Bridge again.

"Mr. Brody, I'd appreciate it if we were firing back!" he shouted over the flurry of alarms sounding across the stations.

He nodded agreeably in response. "Right; firing lateral weapon platforms. Can't fire the main weapon in this arc," he informed. Dozens of orange pulses zoomed away from _Destiny_ and crashed into the Nati capital ship. They flew in a much more irregular pattern, splashing all over the shields, causing them to briefly sputter to life.

"Bring our bow to face them," Young ordered. His command was swiftly enacting, the hull creaking and the view shifting around to address the enemy ship more prominently. "Divert as much power as you can to the shields." Another set of barrages plowed into the shields, this time in the area around the Gate Room. More sparks flew from a circuit behind the Colonel.

"I'm reading multiple new contacts!" Kalin said as dozens of new red dots began to move across the tactical displays. "They've launched fighters!"

Looking out the viewport, the Colonel could see a large amount of the small craft flow over from the starboard side of the capital ship. A group of them turned and started towards the planet while the majority headed straight for _Destiny_. "Brody, do what you can to focus on the planet-bound fighters. We've got to help out the shuttle if we can." A large explosion tore across the right side of the room and sparks showered everyone, flying from what seemed like every direction. The shields lit up brilliantly across the window after having taken a heavy barrage at the bottom of the command structure. Displays flickered for a moment before settled back to normal.

"I'll do my best!" Brody said having to yell over a conduit by him that was sending a continuous stream of sparks. While most of the weapons fire, now including the main weapon, was focused on the capital ship, a few shots flew out towards the planet. Most of them seemed to be successful as Young could see several explosions at the edge of the atmosphere.

A fighter flew right past the Bridge's viewport, reminding Young of the more immediate threat. The dozens of small craft were buzzing around, pelting the shields all around. What he took the greatest care to notice was that the capital ship ceased firing.

"Are they damaged?" Young asked, watching as a few fighters were destroyed. They were fast, but without any shields they were much easier targets to eliminate than the capital ship. Regardless, the intensity of the fire against the _Destiny_ had reduced, allowing Brody to more accurately target the fighters and allowing Young time to ask questions.

"I'm reading almost no hull damage, and their shields only dropped by a marginal percentage," Kalin relayed in a downcast voice.

"How's the possible?" Young asked, watching as they were still firing a flurry of energy bolts at the capital ship, all striking the shields.

"The power output from this ship is incredible," Eli said, echoing his previous statement. "They are channeling so much power to their shields its crazy. And just look at the size of that ship! Even without shields that thing has a lot of protection."

One of the attacking fighters fired a trio of shots at the Bridge before being dispatched by turret fire. A circuit under Young seat exploded and the chair caught fire immediately. He jumped from his seat and patted the small flame away. He turned and looked angrily to Eli. "You do whatever you have to; get me more power!" Another explosion rocked the Bridge, this time coming from the floor and ripping right through it. A few large plates of metal flew around the room and exposed a large ruptured conduit beneath it venting out a lot of gas. "Shut that off!" he shouted to no one in particular. Holding onto the armrest of his chair, he stood relentlessly by the side as the gas stopped pouring into the room.

An annoying beep resonated from Eli's station. "That's it; we've got no more power to spare."

"Shields are powered up to maximum; if it stays like this we might make it!" Brody shouted. The small fire from the fighters was lessening as consistent defenses measures on his part were successful. As such, the ship was faring much better.

Kalin blanched at the read-out on his terminal and yelled out in a panicked voice, "The capital ship is firing again!" He looked up from his station just in time to observe the dozens of bright blue pulses collide with the top section of the command structure.

An absolutely deafening explosion could be heard as the weapons fire partly breached the shields and torn through the hull in an adjacent area to the Bridge. Being the only one not seated, Young was flung across the room, banging himself across the hard metal floor and debris. Kalin's entire console became one giant inferno, and the Colonel watched in horror from the ground as sparks, flames, and sharp metal pounded the young man's body. The chair he sat in went flying down to the ground, and Kalin was encompassed by the inferno, completely taken in by the fire. Young gazed for a terrible second before a torched body was propelled from the blaze, screaming in a blood-chilling voice of someone in torture. The body slammed into the railings by the back of the Bridge and he immediately fell to the floor, quiet and still.

Young felt himself shout out his name, but there was no luck in being heard. He rose up from the floor immediately, but didn't move towards Kalin. He stared at his back, the only part of him that didn't look like it had been cooked, and gazed painfully for a moment. Taking a sharp breath, he looked away and went back to his chair, taking his seat again. Both Brody and Volker were still staring, similarly aghast at what just happened.

"Gentlemen!" the Colonel shouted to get their attention, inwardly feeling guilty at the detachment he had to exhibit as a commander. "Gentlemen!" he repeated louder when they didn't respond. Finally they both turned abruptly to look at him. "We have work to do." They nodded and quickly snapped to their stations. He looked over his shoulder to Eli. "Call TJ," he said softly to him, feeling a dagger stab into him that that was all he could do.

"I've got a good arc with the main weapon!" Brody announced, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"Fire with everything we have," the Colonel said vengefully.

A quick triple shot moved off from the nose of the ship, followed by a flurry of smaller shots from every single turret that could hit that capital ship. Brody was ignoring the fighters now; there were only a few left at this point that were attacking. The massive barrage all slammed into the shields of the enemy ship at one location, down by the top of one of the important looking towers. Silver-blue shields flared around that area, taking heavy punishment from the intense weaponry. It was still impossible to determine how much damage they were inflicting.

Reciprocating the attack, the capital ship fired another barrage, this time plowing into the ship all across the bow. The shields fizzled back and forth between existence and oblivion, and a jet plume exploded from the hull. More sparks continued to fly from all across the room. Kalin's station was a blazing wreck, with the entire terminal having turning in a piece of twisted metal.

"Shields are falling!" Brody cried out from his station. Dozens of alarms filled the Bridge at this point, and Brody didn't know what to tackle first. "The main weapon is running hot!"

"Maintain fire," Young resolved, staring right at the capital ship with a dark gaze. "I'd rather we blow ourselves up before we give let those bastards do it."

"What the…" Volker started, glaring dumbfounded at his console. He turned at looked urgently at Young. "I'm reading multiple hyperspace windows, right off our bow."

Young took a deep breath of the smoke filled air, and closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>The shuttle cleared its way through the atmosphere without any more problems. Once the puffy white clouds were behind them, the large green expanses filled the vista.<p>

"I'm approaching the coordinates; we'll be there real soon," Scott informed. "How's communications looking?" he asked Rush.

Trying once more, the scientist shook his head. "Nothing, and I can't get a good reading of anything beyond the planet; too much interference from the atmosphere." Rush checked scans of the planet. "I'm still reading the eight landed ships."

"Good, I'll handle them nice and easy," he chirped, happy of some positive news. The earth beneath them rapidly approached them, prominently displaying a set of tall and jagged mountain peaks in the region. Based at the bottom of the mountain range Scott could see the glint of the fighters. "Corporal Barnes, do you see them?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," she responded, charging up the weapons. "The port cannon is ready to fire."

He nodded approvingly. Gliding past the highest peaks of the mountains, the fighters could be seen in detail. Four of them were the regular craft they had already encountered, and the other four were somewhat larger. Judging by the amount of soldiers milling around outside, they were probably troop transports. "Lock onto the big ones first, and fire when ready," he ordered once they were a kilometer from the surface. Reducing the speed and trying to keep in a straight line, he offered the Corporal as clean as shot as possible.

Immediately following his orders, the port cannon burst to life. A steady series of energy burst slammed into the ground at incredible speeds. Explosions came from the landed craft which were easy picking in their vulnerable state. The fire raged and encompassed the surrounding area. The entire landing zone for the Nati fighters was quickly pulverized into craters and smoke. A few surviving troops scattered for the nearby forest, trying to hide from the line of fire from the shuttle.

"I'll set you down by the rocks right where the signal is the strongest," Scott informed once Barnes stopped firing. The shuttle's engines slowed down and landed with a jolt on the ground. The rear hatch was facing the mountain side.

Greer unlatched himself from his harness in the rear section and walked up to the door, brandishing his energy rifle. Varro followed him, as did Airmen Atienza, Chu, Dunning, and Richmond. "Are you ready to go, 'doc?" he called to Rush, who was still at his station.

Giving a sigh, the scientist nodded and left his station, not wasting another moment to join the team. "Absolutely."

Nodding, the Sergeant looked back to Scott. "Open it up!"

The rear hatch slid open and bright sunlight flooded through. Varro rushed out first with Dunning at his side. He called all clear and the other Airmen marched out, keeping Rush in the middle of the group. Greer was the last to walk out.

A warning alarm sounded from the cockpit, catching Greer's attention. "What's going on?"

"Incoming fighters," Scott announced, turning around to look at the Sergeant. "I've got to take off or I'm a sitting target. I'll do what I can to cover you."

Greer backed out of the shuttle slowly and gave a quick salute to Scott. "Give those sons o' bitches my regards." He walked out and followed after the rest of the group escorting Rush.

Sealing the hatch, Scott powered the engines up again and lifted off the ground.

"Here they come!" Barnes announced, not taking her eyes off of the targeting system.

A wave of blue pulses rained from the sky and pelted the shuttle and the ground around it. Noticing that Rush and his escorts had entered a large cave, he told himself they were safe from the barrage. The shuttle wasn't safe though. Sparks flew across the interior of the shuttle, and very soon the protective shimmer of the shields that could be seen through the viewport vanished.

"We've lost shields!" he yelled, not sure why because Barnes could definitely determine this information as well. "Hang on!" He pushed the engines forward and headed straight up to address the fighters. "Fire if you have a shot!"

He weaved around a lot to dodge incoming fire, afraid to risk getting hit without shields. There were at least a half dozen incoming fighters in front of the shuttle, rapidly closing the distance and firing haphazardly. Two were destroyed before a hit was scored against the shuttle. The weapon station let loose a flurry of sparks and a small breach in the hull caused the air to fizzle out.

"I'm alright!" Barnes shouted over the hissing air, "but that last shot completely disabled the weapon systems."

"Oh crap," Scott mumbled. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled the nose of the shuttle down and moved straight into the labyrinth of mountain peaks. "I may regret this later!"

Slowing the shuttle to a manageable speed, he navigated through the rock wall and sharp peaks, moving as close to the mountains as he could. Judging by split-second glances to the sensors, the fighters were following him, and not doing as well. One moment within the mountain range and he already could hear the ships colliding with rock. Doing a quick lap around a thick peak, he straightened out only to be faced with a solid mountain wall dead ahead. Waiting as long as he could before changing course, he flew straight for the wall. Giving himself one second to look at the sensors he saw the other fighters disperse. Relieved, he slowed down a little and dropped the shuttle parallel to the wall, heading straight for the ground.

"I'm going to try and set us down in the small opening right there," he said, gesturing to a ravine moving through the mountains that looked flat and well protected from prying eyes. "We should be safe until we can make some repairs."

"Sir, something's wrong with the rock!" she shouted out, confusing the Lieutenant with her vague statement. Quickly checking with sensors, she confirmed what was happening. "The fighters are concentrating their attack on the nearby peak; they're bringing it down!" she yelled in panic.

Scott tried to bring the shuttle out of the ravine, but it was too late. Intense weapons fire from over a dozen newly arrived fighters was slamming into the side of a peak just above the shuttle. Explosions ripped across the mountain and threw large rocks down into the ravine. They pelted the top of the shuttle relentlessly, banging against the hull, and sending more sparks flying. Scott did what he could to stabilize the shuttle and bring it out of this rockslide, but the rocks damaged the engines and cracked the window in front of him, obscuring his view.

"Lieutenant Scott!" Barnes shouted over the cacophonous roar of the mountain coming down. She was pointing to the peak. A loud crack was heard from the peak, and a large chunk of the mountain split from the rest. It came falling right onto the shuttle, and dropped it down into the ravine, burying it.

* * *

><p>Quietly approaching through the thick foliage, Greer eyed the single guard at the entrance to a cave through the rifle's sight. Once he was close enough, he rose from the brush and gently tapped the trigger. The energy pulse struck the soldier right in the chest, burning his uniform and skin. He quickly fell without any problem.<p>

"Alright, let's move!" he shouted, as everyone else appeared out of the tree line a few meters behind in. "Airman Richmond, secure that weapon; I want to bring home as many of these babies as possible."

She immediately complied, running up to the dead guard and grabbing the rifle, stowing it in her bag.

The Sergeant walked up and stopped at the mouth to the cave. It was clearly not natural; the walls were flat and it went on in a straight line. Several scones decorated the walls every few meters, illuminating it for around a hundred meters before it reached a junction. "I'm gonna take a guess and say this is it."

"How very astute, Sergeant," Rush said gruffly, walking ahead of everyone else into the cave.

Greer stopped him, grabbing onto his shoulder tightly. "I'm sorry, but we are here for a reason," he said in an authoritative voice, gesturing to the half-dozen armed men around the scientist. "You just stay there in the middle."

Rush reluctantly agreed, and gestured for Greer to go ahead of him. The Sergeant did so, taking Chu and Dunning with him, and letting Varro, Atienza and Richmond take the rear. They went down the long corridor for a while, finally reaching the junction in a few moments. It was a large junction in which everyone could fit. Greer stopped in the center of the three-way intersection and looked at the two options. Both curved inward, so he couldn't see anything past ten meters. He turned and looked at Rush. "Which way now?"

"You can follow me," a soft voice said from the left corridor. Everyone turned around quickly to identify the source. Standing at the threshold of the hallway, Amanda was smiling and looking carefully across everyone.

Keeping his weapon trained on her, Greer took a step closer. "Easy, Sergeant. It's Dr. Perry," he said softly, putting his hand across the weapon and moving up to her. He figured that the Sergeant had never actually seen her before, so he decided to answer the question as quickly as possible. Rush tried not to show any emotion, but seeing her one more time filled his heart with joy. He had already come to the realization he might never see her again, and this was a moment he wanted to have in peace.

He remained still for a moment, and then lowered the rifle. "Ma'am," he greeted her politely, "I'm not usually this abrupt, but we've got places to be. If you don't mind?"

She smiled amiably and stepped down the corridor, Rush following right after her. "Of course, it's right this way."

Greer nodded and pushed himself in front of Rush again. "We just had this talk, 'doc." He followed after Amanda who was quickly walking down the curved hallway. A few meters into the hall, he pulled out his radio. "Lieutenant Scott, we are en route to the stones. Do you copy?" Static was his answer and it aggravated him. "Scott, do you hear me?"

"We might be too far into the caves," Rush suggested as Greer gave him a glance over his shoulder. "We shouldn't make any conclusions; we have a mission to finish," he asserted, not stopped even though Greer slowed down for a moment. Reluctantly agreeing he continued walked at Perry's pace. "How are you able to project yourself to so many people?" Rush asked, trying to alleviate the tension of the moment.

Amanda turned to face him and walked backwards, perfectly keeping up with the curve of the hallway. "I'm actually a hologram this time," she said with a wide grin. "The technology here is very complex."

"Do you know why you're here?" he asked, dreading hearing the answer said aloud.

To his surprise, she smiled happily. "Yes, all of the information was here. As soon as my program arrived it was downloaded. It's… it's amazing really." At that moment she stopped and held out her hand, her face becoming serious. "The stone chamber is right through there," she said, pointing around the bend, "but there are several soldiers as well. They don't know we're here yet."

"Let's go get them," Greer said enthusiastically, holding his rifle up.

"I'll give you a distraction," Amanda offered, and at that moment ran off down the hall. Greer, Varro, and the Airmen all chased after her, leaving Rush behind them. He was in a partial daze, stunned as he watched the calm and brave manner in which Amanda was acting. It brought a small smile to his face as he finally started to move again.

He walked down the last stretch of the corridor and watched as Amanda moved into a large antechamber with around ten Nati soldiers within it. The room had a tall ceiling and had many alcoves across the walls with bright lights washing up them. A grand door was on the other side of the room, and it looked as if though one of the soldiers was trying to get it open. "Hello," Amanda said, gaining their attention. As soon as they turned to look at her, she started to run across the wide room. The troops, focused on her, raised their weapons and fired, not yet noticing the armed Airmen coming in behind. She made it across the entire room, befuddling the soldiers as their energy pulses passed harmlessly through her.

Greer was the next one in the antechamber, and started to fire his weapon rapidly, hitting two soldiers square in the chest before ducking into an alcove for cover. Varro, Atienza, and Dunning charged out as one group, firing a large volley at the soldiers. One Nati was shot, while the remaining forces dispersed through the room and took cover in alcoves, now ignoring Amanda standing by the door. Chu and Richmond stayed at the neck of the hallway, crouching by the corner. They fired a flurry of shots at the enemy positions, keeping them pinned in the alcoves. Chunks of the rock came flying from the wall as the high energy pulses struck the sides of the room. Varro took a few steps closer, hugging the wall on the left of the room, and fired a short burst at the soldier hiding in the opposing alcove.

"Move up!" Greer shouted, advancing from his alcove to the next one, gaining a few meters into the room. He ducked quickly into its safety as a pulse whistled past his head, splashing him with heat. Several Nati troops leaped out of their cover and rolled across the floor until they stopped in the center and raised their weapons. They let loose a rapid blast of fire from their rifles, striking all across the room. Chu took a hit to the leg and fell down, shouting out in pain as the shot cooked his skin. Richmond gave him covering fire, and with Dunning's support dropped the enemy troops. They quickly rushed to Chu's side and dragged him back through the corridor to Rush's position where they were safe from weapons fire. After that they moved back into the antechamber.

Rush didn't know what to do with the injured man, but helped him to sit up and straighten his leg out. "Thanks, Doctor," he said through clenched teeth. Tired of waiting around, Rush nodded to him and quickly grabbed the rifle and ran out into the antechamber.

Most of the Nati were dead by now, but there were still two hiding in the furthest alcoves. Greer and Varro were making their way up one alcove at a time while the Airmen were laying down cover fire.

Almost at the end of the room, Greer turned around the corner to attack the soldier when he jumped from his opposing alcove and grabbed the Sergeant's arm, pushing him back to the wall. Greer pushed with his strength to get the Nati of him and noticed Varro quickly dispatch the second Nati. The other Airmen were watching the Sergeant's predicament, but didn't risk shooting while he was in such close quarters. He managed to get the soldier off of his arm, but in that moment the Nati pulled a dagger from his belt. As he lunged to stab the Sergeant, a blast lashed out from the side and struck the soldier across the face. He immediately collapsed to the ground.

Looking back to where the shot came from, he saw Rush holding a rifle, aimed at his now deceased adversary. "You were that sure you'd miss me?" he commented, noticing the large distance between them and the lack of training Rush had with firearms.

"It was a calculated risk," he returned, dropping the weapon to the ground, not seeing a need for it anymore. "You're welcome."

"It's this way," Perry said, reminding Rush of her presence by the large door. Right by her side in a moment, Rush was examining the door, which lacking any designs or opening mechanisms. "I can take care of that." She closed her eyes and focused, tilting her head as she worked. A loud hiss and whir came from the inner workings of the door, and it slowly slid open at that moment. Inside was a small room. The walls were covered with vertical, transparent power conduits that cast a deep red color into the room. In the center of the chamber there was an Ancient stone terminal with a conduit running across the floor to reach it.

"Is that it?" Greer asked disappointedly, having personally expected something bigger.

"I'll be waiting for you on the other side," Perry said, immediately dissolving into thin air. Once she did, one of the slots on the terminal lit up. A large crystal lay in that slot instead of a stone.

Walking up to the station, Rush saw a single stone sitting on the side of the terminal. He gingerly picked up the stone and took a moment to look back. Chu was being dragged back into the now secured room while Richmond and Varro were gathering more weapons. Greer stood by the door with Rush, giving the scientist a supportive nod. "Wish us all luck," Rush said softly, giving a small grin to the Sergeant as he placed the stone in the first available slot.

* * *

><p>For a long moment, Rush was nowhere. Everything was black all around him, and there was nothing but a long, persistent whine. He felt sick to his stomach and couldn't breathe, and started to feel a huge pressure against his skull. Just at the moment when he felt he couldn't take it any longer, everything was alleviated.<p>

The bright light of his surroundings blinded him, leading him to close his eyes. He gasped loudly as he struggled to fill his lungs with air, and felt relieved that his head didn't hurt anymore. His eyes still closed, he listened to his environment, hearing only a slight humming. Finally, he slowly opened his eyes and carefully looked around.

In front of him there was a stone terminal, and his hand was rested on the only stone on it. The terminal had a different configuration than he was used to seeing, and the stone looked just like the one from the Ancient database. He was in a spacey room, built out of smooth polished rock. A large balcony was on the opposite side, looking out onto the sunset outside. It cast a deep red-orange glow into the room. The room was surrounded with a clutter of papers and devices. It was a thorough mess.

Gazing at himself, Rush make out the same sand colored coat that Palos had worn in his image. A loud beep resonated from the door a few meters to his right. He jumped in light surprise at the sound, but didn't do anything. It was a small door, but lavishly decorated with an embossed pattern. It beeped again. Rush walked up slowly and observed a control mechanism on the side, somewhat similar to those on _Destiny_. He pressed it and let the door slid open. A young Ancient stood on the other side, holding up an electronic pad and looking flustered.

"Where have you been, Palos?" he asked in aggravation, handing him the pad. Rush was confused but accepted the pad slowly. Gazing over it quickly, he saw it was a lengthy document. "I had to speak with the Archon for hours so he would allow you a final chance to petition to the council. Don't destroy all my work," the man begged.

Rush nodded, understanding the relevance of this document as permission to address the Ancient scientific council. "I won't; thank you," he said unsurely. He hoped that he wasn't acting too suspicious.

The young man smirked and walked away, apparently having more to do elsewhere. Rush closed the door and took a few steps back, skimming over the document. He took in the information while simultaneously considering what had to be done next.

It was at that moment he became aware of another presence in the room. He looked straight up to the balcony where a middle-aged man stood, dressed in the same clothes as he was. "Dr. Rush, I presume?" the man said slowly, with an entertained grin.

For a whole moment Rush stood frozen in position, staring at the man with complete shock and a bit of fear. It took him a moment to realize that this man knew his name, and then he panicked even more. His heart was racing, but he still felt curious about the situation and had to speak. "How do yo… who… who are you?"

The man merely gestured for him to join him on the balcony as he walked up to the railing and gazed straight to the sun. His heart beating out of control now, Rush took a small step first before regaining full control. He continued to walk until he reached the balcony, and immediately froze again. A moment passed and then he took a giant step to the railing, standing side-by-side with the stranger, and just watched.

Before him lay a vast desert field, completely flat for kilometers. He was standing high above the ground on what seemed to be a massive complex, the only building in the area. Sitting at the foot of the tower was a large ship. Its parabolic curves that defined its shape were perfect, flawlessly built. The orange-red glow from the sun reflected off of the hull in the most beautiful way, complimenting the natural earthy tones of the hull's color. Across the entire exterior of the ship, all of the lights were on and brilliantly glowing, making the vast craft come to life. Not a single spot on the vessel was damaged in the slightest, and its freshly assembled hull was still glinting from how clean it was. Rush gasped and rested his arms on the railing, completely blown away. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It was _Destiny_.


	11. Launch

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_First I will apologize for having taken one year to update. It's been a busy year, and many times I just forgot about this under my other obligations. Thankfully enough of you kept reminding me how horrible it is to leave the story unfinished, so I spent the last month and a half working on this; it's a monster. It was fun to write, and incredibly challenging at the same time. At the same time I was giving heavy thought about where I want to take the show on this half season, so everything has been planned carefully. I honestly can't wait to write a few of the episodes I have in mind._

_Episode eleven! I had so much that I needed to put into this episode to close up some arcs and give good coverage to events in it. I tried to blend in my usual assortment of elements, but it's possible this one is a bit heavy handed on the dialogue; you can be the judges of that. Anyways, some parts of this were really incredible to write and it looks like it turned out really solid. Forgive me for making it so long; at 36000 words this far surpasses anything I've written. Unless you like stuff like that, in which case I'm not sorry but happy. Please review this episode! I need to know what I'm doing right and where I'm slipping! I write for the fans so I wanna make sure I'm pleasing the fans_!

_As I've proven, I am not very reliable at meeting deadlines, so the next episode will be out whenever I have time to write it. As such, I've been considering getting a Facebook account under this pen name. That way I could occasionally update where I am on an episode and have conversations with some of you guys if you have ideas or questions. Send me a PM if you want that, and I'll post an update on my profile if I make one._

_Well, that's it. Enjoy!_

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode, "Reboot", "Worship", and "Signal". The episodes "The Greater Good", "Deliverance", and "Twin Destinies" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>311: Launch<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>It's not a game, Colonel.<em> Destiny's_ mission requires a level of commitment I doubt anyone in that ship's prepared to make._

_Everyone on this ship is useful, not just those that are capable of F.T.L. calculations. We all belong here._

_So everything happens for a reason._

_Yeah, well, if you'd have said that to me a couple of years ago, I'd have dismissed it as superstition - a classic weak-minded response to the overwhelming complexity of the universe._

_A message, perhaps, or a sign of intelligence from the beginning of time._

_There is no mission other than getting these people home. _

_It was never about going home. It's about getting us to where we're going. That is the mission._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_This is what the Seed Ship database sent to_ Destiny _about this planet. It would seem that the Seed Ship did more than just leave a Stargate on this world. It actually __created life, and left behind Ancient technology, including a Neural Interface Chair. The only question is, why here?_

_Just promise me one thing. When the time comes, don't be afraid to let go. __Do you promise me?_

_Yes._

_Once I'd broken the code, I had access to the ship's complete archive. There are thousands of pages devoted to this: scientific research, philosophical debate._

_Well, you all know that when the Ancients discovered the signal embedded in the microwave background radiation, they built_ Destiny_ to try and reconstruct the signal, uncover who sent it and what it contained. What you don't know, is that it almost wasn't launched. A large sect of Ancients believed the construct was hidden and broken apart for a reason. After_ Destiny_ had been completed, the mission was abandoned; it wasn't launched. The lead architect of the mission, Palos, also the scientist who first discovered the construct, continued to petition that the mission had to be undertaken._

_So, what's the big deal?_

_Apparently, Palos had a plan the entire time; one to ensure the launch of_ Destiny._ He knew without a doubt that the mission was important and would have stunning results. So he took two communication stones and modified them. He linked them so they could only communicate with each other._

_But that's…_

_That's my handwriting._

_Shields are falling! The main weapon is running hot!_

_Maintain fire. I'd rather we blow ourselves up before we give let those bastards do it._

_What the… I'm reading multiple hyperspace windows, right off our bow._

_The fighters are concentrating their attack on the nearby peak; they're bringing it down! Lieutenant Scott!_

__Dr. Rush, I presume?"__

* * *

><p>The dry desert wind blew across the lower levels of the building, washing the pristine hull of the <em>Destiny<em> with fine grains of sand. The sun was high in the sky and brighter than Rush had ever seen it in the present. He could feel the heat on his skin and it was refreshing for him. The wind was the only sound in the area, a slow whoosh across the land. Closing his eyes, he felt perfect peace and calm around him. Usually in moments of such calm, Rush preferred to think and plan about the next stage of his life. This time, he just stood at the balcony with his eyes closed, and did nothing but feel the heat and sand prick his skin, and listen to the wind sing him a tranquil song.

"Enjoy it while you can," the man said from behind Rush, his voice yanking him back from his reverie. He slowly tore his gaze away from the vista and looked back into the room. The strange man was now standing within the room. Rush stood in the breeze for a moment before he left the balcony and joined the man there. "There wouldn't be much time for pleasantries while you are here."

Many questions were dashing through Rush's mind, and at the same time so were many possible answers. He walked over to the large stone table the dominated the room and stared inquisitively at the man. In the end, after having stared for a while, he decided it would be better to just ask. "I know why _I_ am here. The question is who are _you_, and why are you here?"

The old man furrowed his brow in mild disappointment. "I know you spent a lot of your time studying the scientific facts of the case, but I think you know the answer to at least one of your questions."

Rush looked harder at the man's face; it did admittedly look familiar to him. After a few seconds of silence he spoke in silent shock. "You're Palos," he said dumbfounded, earning a smile from the man. "But that can't be. The stones put me in your consciousness, and even if you're telling the truth, there is no way you could know who I am."

Keeping his small, friendly smile, Palos meekly stumbled around the table and stopped in front of the communication stone terminal. "It's amazing what one can do with a piece of technology, especially if they made it." He patted one of the empty slots of the terminal, admiring the power of the device. "Or modified it, I suppose I should say."

Following his indications, Rush tried to fill in some of the pieces. "I know that you were… are the Ancient responsible for discovering the signal left in the microwave background radiation. More than that you were the scientist who proposed launching _Destiny_ to travel the universe and put the pieces together, but you failed. Your opposition proved stronger so you needed help, help from those who would later become _Destiny's_ crew."

"And I never doubted that she would have a crew one day." Palos seemed exhausted as he collected his thoughts. "Yes… I proved to be too weak in this regard. Nothing I could do or say was enough for the council, but someone that had seen _Destiny's_ glory firsthand would clearly have no difficulty."

While it was stunning to be speaking with Palos, Rush was slightly annoyed at being told what he already knew. "Yes, yes my own research revealed that much. I am aware that this stone has had its quantum signature locked to this time, allowing someone to swap consciousness with you from the future. We found the paired stone and I used it to come here. I'm more surprised to see you here."

The Ancient looked apologetically to Rush before moving on. "Of course, I am just personally thrilled to be speaking with a person who has embarked on the journey that I worked hard to bring to life." Palos took a moment to calm himself and proceeded to gesture at the terminal once more. "I modified this terminal in more ways than one. It still allows your consciousness to inhabit my body, but it left my imprint stored here in this terminal."

"Is it safe to use the stones that way?" Rush inquired, visibly uncomfortable at the thought that his body was subject to untested technology.

Palos hesitated, turning to gaze out the balcony. Then he snapped back to look at Rush. "Yes, for you the process is harmless. Your mind would be inactive, but all of your basic body operations would continue. When you return you will likely be dehydrated and fatigued but otherwise intact." It was then that Palos slowed down and looked around the room solemnly, taking a moment to observe all the trinkets and data pads lying around.

The obvious omission made Rush hesitate asking the next question. "And what about yourself?" he asked fearing the answer.

This time Palos answered quickly, turning his attention to Rush. "I realized that speaking with you, giving you some vital information would be invaluable. This stone is in a state of feedback with my consciousness. It allows me to have access to your thoughts and memories while they are in my mind so I can know what you know and project myself to you. At the time… I deemed it to be a necessary sacrifice."

"What are you saying? What will happen to you?" Rush insisted.

"The process is a costly one on the nervous system. While I won't observe the damage immediately, the neurological effect of this feedback process will be degenerative. Within a year I imagine I won't be able to understand my work anymore, and within a decade I will most likely be reduced to a shell of my former self," he spoke slowly and quietly, but without any remorse in his voice.

For a short moment Rush looked on quietly, letting the information settle. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Palos waved a hand at Rush, dismissing the issue. "I willingly accepted this fate; I took all the steps to this outcome. Still," he paused gazing at the output in the closest monitor, "losing myself bit by bit is not an end I find palatable."

Against his better judgment he felt that there was one thing that could be done to bring some peace to this man. "I… I probably shouldn't tell you this, but some records from this time have survived. A short time from now you will be killed by a member of your opposition. You never suffer that fate, if it is any consolation to you."

After he heard the news Palos took in a sharp breath and looked in stunned surprise at Rush. It was about a half-minute before he brought himself to speak again. "To be perfectly candid, that is good news. Why prolong my suffering? My best days in this form would be in my past. I yearn to complete my portion of this venture, for the reward is beckoning me."

His words confused Rush, made apparent by his quizzical countenance. "Reward? What do you mean?"

Palos took a moment to consider his words; a wide smile crept onto his face. "Go to that terminal there," he said pointing to a terminal on the other side of the stone table. Rush complied, finding the terminal to be virtually identical to any terminal found on _Destiny_. "Now open this data package." Standing next to Rush he indicated the precise package. Obeying the command he activated the system, bringing a holo-display online. It showed various sensory outputs, all energy readings of the same thing. "You recognize this, yes?"

Mesmerized by the lively patterns in the energy field, Rush nodded his head slowly. "It's the signal."

"Yes, exactly. Now look closer at it; compare it to what you have seen in your time," Palos said quickly, anxious to lead Rush to a revelation. "What do you notice about it?"

He stared at it intently trying to see what Palos wanted him to find, but nothing came to mind. "It looks exactly the same, I don't know you are…" Rush stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly understood. "It's the same. Exactly the same," he repeated quietly in surprise earning an excited nod from Palos. "But that's not possible. Any radiation source or structure embedded in the cosmic background radiation would change over time. It would degrade over the millennia or fluctuate in some manner." He turned to look at Palos who seemed like he had a lot to say. "What do you know?"

"I have devoted twenty years of my life to the study of this structure. The things I have learned pale in comparison to the whole, but they are important nonetheless," he said as he watched the signal flow across the display. "The nature of its origin has been the focus of my most recent work. My research and the evidence I found pointed to one answer. The beings that made this structure exist beyond our form. They are some type of energy that is not confined by space or time; something beyond that which we can perceive or come to understand. Similarly they cannot fully realize us, because their existence is different. Unable to physically make contact, they created this structure that resounds resolute through time and in all of the far corners of space."

"While your theory could serve to answer some questions," Rush yielded, intrigued by this proposition, "it doesn't seem a logical method to make contact. It took your people thousands if not millions of years to find the structure. It's impractical to communicate in such a way it is nearly impossible to be heard."

Palos grinned at him as he spoke. "I remember thinking the same thing at first, but then I realized that I was still thinking in terms of a linear existence. Enduring the passage of time for this message to be received is not a burden these higher beings experience. And in the same effort they have ensured that only the most capable of races and dedicated of individuals will receive their knowledge. I am convinced that putting all the fragments together will yield the most comprehensive understanding of our universe imaginable." Palos stopped and looked inquisitively at Rush. "They realize the mission is too much for any one person to accomplish, so they used their ability to manipulate our energy to acknowledge the contributions of all along the journey. You've witnessed this, more often than once."

The statement didn't surprise Rush nearly as much as some of Palos' other realizations. In fact it was something that he already suspected. "Amanda," he managed to utter, gazing at the communication stone terminal. Thinking back he remembered another one. "Franklin."

"Yes, people who worked to fulfill _Destiny's_ mission and did their part. And after that they were raised to a grander state," Palos said in near reverence. "A state with no bounds of space or time, and yet a complete understanding of our universe. I can think of no greater reward than that of being allowed to join them."

Taking a long deep breath Rush slowly walked around the room, letting all of this information settle. "I speculated as much, that the structure contained vast knowledge from a powerful source."

"The council fears not knowledge, but power. They have been convinced that this venture would grant someone power to do evil." His manner was heavily frustrated as he spoke of the council and his opponents. "While knowledge is needed for power, the structure carefully selects those who may discover it. Only noble minds can be rewarded. You believe, don't you? I know to you this all seems like pure speculation but I know it is all very true; I feel it in my blood. This was my task, to realize this journey and the mind behind it." He looked to Rush, his countenance now tranquil that he had spoken his knowledge. "Your task is just beginning."

Rush stopped pacing. He stood at the balcony again, his gaze glued to _Destiny_. "Thank you," he finally said not turning around. "I know that I would continue on the mission no matter what, but it is reassuring to be told me effort isn't wasted. That our losses had meaning." Rush thought of Amanda, and for the first time since she had left him on _Destiny_ he felt happy for her, at what she had become. A single tear streamed down his cheek.

"I do not doubt that in your future journeys you will see amazing wonders and face perilous dangers," Palos said from Rush's side, "but right now you have a more pressing concern. I stayed behind so I could tell you of my revelation and to help you in the here and now."

Nodding lightly Rush returned his focus on the Ancient scientist. "Of course, any information you can give me would be appreciated."

"I thought as much; it was unlikely detailed records of today would survive intact. I had to make sure you were well prepared for your meeting," Palos explained in a much calmer manner. Since they concluded their important conversation he was less anxious. "Now, where to begin?"

* * *

><p>"Alright, listen up!" Sergeant Greer shouted to the soldiers in the antechamber. He walked out of the room housing the communication stones and Rush. The moment the devices had activated the scientist collapsed to the floor and no one had dared to move him, unsure if it might affect the signal. Once Greer was out of the room the door slid back into position and locked itself. "This position is secure for the moment, but you can bet that we'll be having company before too long. Dunning, keep an eye on Chu. Patch him up. Richmond, I want you to head back up to the mouth of this cave. The moment you see enemy backup, you radio in and get your ass back here. The rest of us will hold back here. Move!"<p>

After his orders were barked out, all the men under his command sent their affirmative and moved out to their positions. Airman Richmond ran out of the antechamber and followed the corridor out of the cave. Dunning helped Chu relocated into an alcove where he could be protected, and Atienza stood at the entrance to the antechamber.

The Sergeant paced around for a brief moment. He glanced at the pile of weapons they had stashed. "Too bad we can't use them until Kalin can unlock the failsafe," Varro said, walking up to Greer.

"I guess we'll just find out how powerful a battery these things have," Greer returned. He let his rifle hang from the strap and leaned against the wall. "This is a defensible position. Though, we all saw that ship. I think we might need to wait longer than we wanted to for reinforcements." The Sergeant shrugged off the negative news he delivered.

Varro took a step up to him, holding onto his rifle. "You don't seem concerned about any of that at all."

"I could say the same for you."

Looking up at the arching ceiling, Varro grinned lightly. "I don't think we have anything to worry about." He spoke very calmly, his attitude showing he truly believed what he was saying.

Greer gave him a humored look. "Oh really? If that's how you feel, you want to relieve Richmond and just take on the Nati army yourself?" he said with a hint of sincerity in his voice.

"That's not really what I meant." Varro paced around a bit, and looked back at the room where Rush was. He hesitated a little bit, as if though he didn't really want to speak his mind. "Something he told me when we were gearing up. He was talking about time travel and all the theories behind it."

The Sergeant half-closed his eyes and moaned in annoyance. "Fun stuff."

"One of the things he mentioned was that he knew we would succeed. He knew that we would protect him and that the mission would turn out all right; said that if it didn't, this timeline would have already collapsed." He chuckled and slung his rifle over his back. "Somehow that takes the pressure off; even if I'm not sure I totally understand it."

Greer stared for a moment, casting a dark look on Varro. "Just because he succeeds," the Sergeant said softly, pointing a finger at the sealed door, "doesn't mean _we_ survive the next attack." Varro was visibly taken aback by this idea. Clearly he never thought about it that way. Slowly he lumbered off, taking an easily defendable position in one of the alcoves. Inwardly Greer had mixed emotions; he was partly satisfied to have knocked Varro out of his overconfidence; and he was partly frightened by the truth his words held.

* * *

><p>The hull of the battered shuttle complained loudly, the roof creaking as it struggled to support the tons of rock that had pinned it to the bottom of the ravine. The front window was smashed in and a large chunk of rock was sticking through it, crushing the forward control console. Only a few lights were still flickering with some light in the aft compartment, but if it wasn't for them, then entire interior of the shuttle would be in darkness. Other than the creaking of the hull and the thud of small rocks sliding through the rubble, it was incredibly quiet. There was almost no power coming from the shuttle's generator, and even if almost every system was destroyed, there were no sparks flying or fires raging.<p>

Scott groaned as he woke up, sprawled across the floor in the middle of the shuttle. He clutched his head as he started to rise, feeling it throb. There was blood on his hand when he pulled it down to look. He closed his eyes in pain, and after a moment of struggling he finally sat himself up. Taking a moment to fully regain his senses, he looked around to survey the damage. He grimaced at the total annihilation of the front of the shuttle. Panning to his right he saw Corporal Barnes still unconscious at her station.

"Corporal," he managed to mumble. There was no answer. Slowly, he got himself to rise, using the small columns and railings as support. He felt very dizzy and held his position for a moment, allowing his body to stabilize. Then he walked up to Barnes and lightly shook her body. "Corporal, wake up." Inwardly he hoped she was just knocked out.

To his relief, she gasped awake and sat up immediately. He sighed and took a step back, leaning on the console for support. "Sir… what happened?"

"The last thing I can remember is the mountain falling on top of the shuttle. I'd guess by that," he said, lightly gesturing to the rock protruding into the shuttle, "that we are buried under a lot of rock right now." The hull creaked as he spoke, almost as if to agree with him. "A whole lot of rock." He held his head again and winced in pain.

"Are you alright, sir?" Barnes asked in concern. She rose from her seat easily and didn't seem to be injured seriously. Grabbing Scott's arm she helped to move him to the long seats in the aft section.

He complied with her assistance and mumbled a response. "I must've hit my head hard; maybe on the rock or something. I don't feel too good."

Barnes sighed and sat him down near one of the functional lights. She looked at the bloody wound on the top of his forehead. "It looks pretty bad. You probably have a concussion." The Corporal moved to get the first aid kit that had fallen to the floor. Scott slumped down on the seat as she returned to him and started to pat at the wound with a cloth. "We need to get you out of here soon."

Scott mildly nodded in agreement. "Do we have comms?"

Unsure of the answer, Barnes left him for a moment to go back to her station. She fiddled with the dead console for a little, and then looked at the circuitry in the panels beneath it. "No, I'm not getting any power to these systems. And it looks like the communication terminal is pretty beaten up."

"Damn," Scott swore quietly. Barnes returned to him and sat on the chair for a moment. After a moment, he sat up a little and pointed to the door at the end of the shuttle. "How deep do you think we are?"

"You want to try opening the door?" she asked him in surprise. Scott nodded in return. "We could just let more rubble into the shuttle that way. It's not a safe idea."

"Well neither is waiting here for the roof to collapse and crush us both," he countered with as much force as he had, which in his current condition was minimal. "There should be enough power to open the door, or just to unlock it so you can force it open manually."

Barnes clearly did not like this idea, but inwardly she agreed that it seemed better to do something than just sit around. She rose and walked over to the door panel which still had a little bit of light. Taking a deep breath, she squeezed herself into the corner in case rubble poured in and slammed the control console. The door lock jerked and slowly spun to life, successfully unlocking the door. After that the door itself did not move. It creaked and grinded at first and then a moment later is slid open. A few small rocks dropped into the shuttle, but for the most part nothing happened.

"There," Scott said, pointing at the bottom of the rock on the other side of the door. There was a reasonable gap between a few large chunks of the collapsed rock. A sliver of light was seen coming from it. "You could probably fit through there, get out of here."

Barnes looked back at the Lieutenant in slight shock. "What about you? I can't just leave you sir. Not in your condition; you need someone to keep an eye on you," she insisted, fighting against his request.

The Lieutenant was preparing a response in which he was going to make it into an order, but he was cut off as the shuttle trembled slightly. Some dust shook loose from the rocks around the shuttle and settled down onto the ground. Barnes looked up in silence at the rocks right as a boom was heard followed by a much greater trembling. This time some small rocks slid down into the shuttle, and the hull creaked loudly again. She moved away from the door and closer to Scott.

"It must be the Nati fighters," Scott reasoned as another explosion could be heard and felt but further away than the last one. "They're probably trying to make sure they got us."

There was yet another explosion, this time very close, and the shuttle shook violently from the shift of the rocks. Some large pieces that were wedged in the cockpit slid deeper into the shuttle, and the small glimpse of light coming from the aft section flickered as rocks tumbled down through the opening. Once the shaking subsided Barnes turned to Scott. "Guess I'm not going anywhere," she said as the remaining light began to flicker, casting them further into darkness.

* * *

><p>Thick, choking smoke swarmed through the Bridge, clouding up the room. It was hard to breathe and hard to see. Sparks flew through the smoke and the dozens of flickering lights in the room could be seen through the haze of the smoke. Everything was in a daze, the room felt far away. Young felt his head swelling and the pressure was getting to be too much.<p>

Volker ran from his station to the large fire currently raging by the right side of the bridge. Eli threw him a pressure based fire extinguisher that he had rigged up a few months ago. Using it, Volker put of the large fire, and quickly moved to put out some of the smaller flames in other areas of the room. With the fires out, the smoke started to fade. The environmental systems kicked in and sucked the remaining haze out of the bridge.

The view was clearer, but Young almost wished it was still smoke filled. The bridge was in ruin, debris covering the floor and sparks flying from exposed systems all over the room. Kalin's charred body was in an immobile heap in the corner of the room. Young didn't even know if he was still alive. The light recesses were flickering adding to the appearance of dysfunction. A not so gentle shaking of the deck plates brought the Colonel back to the actual battle. He gazed out the window and saw hull breaches riddling the ship, and areas where the shields were beginning to flare out of existence. Dozens of small energy bolts continued to lash out against their aggressor, the massive Nati capital ship that for the most part seemed unscathed. Their shields briefly shimmered to stop _Destiny_'s attacks, and then their lateral weapons charged to full power and prepared to fire.

Volker quickly dashed back to his station and checked the current tactical situation, grimacing heavily as he read the various outputs from the ship's systems.

"Colonel, shield emitters across the ship are failing. Our hull integrity is heavily compromised." Brody informed in a panicked voice. A small part of Young just wanted the scientist to shut up if he couldn't deliver any good information, but that part of him died very quickly. "I'm maintaining fire, but I highly doubt we can take another barrage!"

"Hyperspace weapons opening!" Volker shouted out. "Reading a total of twelve distinct signatures: Nati warships!" he said in a panic, turning to look at the Colonel in fear, not knowing what he could do to save them from a hopeless situation.

"The capital ship is firing!" Brody announced as well. "I'm diverting power from weapons to shields." He quickly made the power transfer, hoping the moderate increase in shield power could help them withstand another barrage. All weapon fire from _Destiny_ immediately ceased.

The statements came back to back, and neither pleased the Colonel. He took a few steps and sat in the commander's chair, taking a deep breath as he braced himself. The capital ship had moved away in the last few minutes, forcing their weapons to travel a greater distance than before. It was maddening to watch the massive bolts of ionized energy slowly make their way to _Destiny_. At nearly the same moment as the bolts left the capital ship, a dozen points of lights came into life, just visible in the corner of the window. One by one they burst into massive clouds of billowing energy, and one by one powerful and undamaged Nati warships flashed into existence, filling the space between the capital ship and _Destiny_. Only they didn't turn on _Destiny_.

"What the hell are they doing?" Volker asked aloud. He had turned now to just stare out of the viewport, fully ignoring the swarm of data on his console.

Three of the newcomers positioned themselves directly in the path of the weapons from the capital ship. The remaining ships formed what looked like a barricade between the two ships and immediately began firing on the capital ship. Young leaped out of his chair and made his way to Volker's station.

"They're… they're firing on their own ship," Brody said in disbelief.

As he said it, the ships in the barricade formation launched a simultaneous first strike against the capital ship. These energy bolts were smaller in size than their counterparts from the capital ship, but they were also slightly faster. Young watched as the some of the smaller blasts merged with the larger bolts from the capital ship. As the opposed weapons hit, the smaller ones merely vanished as the larger ones passed through them, maintaining their course for the three warships. The remaining onslaught of weapons from the Nati warships passed swiftly through the capital ship's barrage and slammed into the shields of Vesari's ship. Individually those weapons did little damage, but combined they caused the capital ship's shields to brightly flare up as the sustained a punishing blow.

Right at that moment, the three ships positioned in the path of the weapons' fire were hit. One ship was struck by half a dozen powerful bolts and immediately reeled out of control. The shields stayed alive for a moment and then started to flicker slightly. That ship succeeded in stabilizing itself rather soon. The other two ships weren't hit as hard and didn't show any sign of being damaged. In a few seconds, all twelve warships proceeded to open fire on the capital ship on their own accord.

The Colonel stared agape out of the viewport at the dozen ships that were viciously attacking the capital ship. Clearly Vesari was as surprised by this as the crew of _Destiny_ because his ship had yet to return fire. It was just sitting in space taking punishing hits. Finally he managed to pull himself away from the port and direct his attention to Volker. "What's the condition of the capital ship?"

Volker took a brief moment to tear his eyes from the scene unfolding before the _Destiny_ and shift to the console in front of him. "Can't tell for certain, but it definitely looks like their shields are starting to be strained. That level of fire may be enough to punch through them," Volker announced, struggling to speak through the shock.

A quick triple beep sounded from Brody's station, drawing the Colonel's attention. He moved back closer to the central chair so he could have a better line of sight to all the various stations. "Colonel, the capital ship is opening fire again!" It was a second before he gave more information. "Looks like they're ignoring us completely; they're focusing on the Nati warships."

The lateral trench on the capital ship lit up brightly as the weapon platforms charged up, and quickly discharged a dozen bolts of powerful energy. They quickly traversed across the empty space and converged on the ship that had already taken a heavy barrage earlier. Young watched as the ship tried to navigate out of the way of the weapons fire and failed miserably. Every bolt collided with their shields and all the kinetic energy that was transferred to the ship caused it to spin out of formation. From what could be seen at this distance, the shields were quickly overpowered and the weapons managed to deliver significant damage directly to the ship. Massive plumes of fire erupted from the ship and quickly evaporated in the vacuum of space. The hull breaches spewed twisted chunks of metal and crew members as the ship continued to spin further from the formation. Running lights dimmed and flickered, indicating the ship had lost main power. In a moment all the lights on the ship died and the engines went from bright blue to dark and cold. As the ship rotated, the damaged side came into view from _Destiny_'s perspective. Young flinched as he saw craters lining that entire side of the ship. There was clearly no way that ship could still be operational.

"Holy crap," Eli muttered from the aft station, just as taken aback by the carnage as the Colonel was. "They don't stand a chance."

Young wasn't about to let pessimism back onto this bridge; not when a chance to salvation had just arrived. "Then let's help them even the odds," he said taking his seat in the central chair, ready to get back into the fight. "Mr. Brody, divert all power you have to the main weapon."

"Colonel, the shields are barely holding as things are," Brody said, objecting to the Colonel's order.

"I'm aware of that. Now power up the main weapon," he said quickly, not happy to repeat himself in such a crucial moment.

Brody capitulated and easily reallocated the power. "Main weapon fully charged and coming online now," he informed.

While this discussion had been taking place, the capital ship had easily dispatched yet another Nati warship. Now two crippled ships were drifting aimlessly through space. Vesari's behemoth of a ship showed signs of weariness on her shields, but it was still coming on strong to the opposing fleet. Young didn't take his eyes off of the battle as he gave his command. "Fire."

A flurry of orange jets flew from the bow of _Destiny_ and zipped right between the remaining Nati warships. They mixed with the blue energy bolts heading for the capital ship and clearly stood out from the Nati weapons fire. Very quickly they slammed into the capital ship. The shields flared to life brightly, taking heavy punishment from its eleven attackers. The main weapon seemed to be stronger than the average Nati turret, and now that _Destiny_ had joined this fight the capital ship seemed to be struggling to survive.

"Their shields are under tremendous strain!" Eli chirped from his station, having to project as a weak pipe that was behind him suddenly sprung a leak, flooding the room with more gas. He quickly typed in a command to shut off that pipe and the gas stopped flowing. "We're still falling apart even if they're not firing at us," he complained loudly. A bright light from the viewport informed everyone that another warship had just been eliminated.

Young nodded in agreement as he saw several spots on the bridge that were shooting out sparks and lights that flickered. "We'll worry about that later. Just keep up the heat, Brody."

"Colonel, they're on the move!" Volker announced excitedly. He stared at his screen in disbelief. "I… I think they're retreating."

Everyone gazed up to watch the massive ship angle away from the fleet and begin to sluggishly move off. The giant engines were brought to face the attacking force and they glowed brightly as they pushed the behemoth away from danger.

"I'm reading a hyperspace window forming on their bow," Volker added. As he said this, a large billowing cloud of energy popped into existence, and with a flash of light the capital ship was gone.

Beyond the viewport everything was still. Three wrecks were drifting away from the battle site leaving a trail of debris in their wake. One showed signs of some life; running lights seemed to be partly functional and maneuvering thrusters burst to life every few seconds indicating the crew was trying to stabilize their craft. The other nine ships were undamaged, since Vesari only attacked one ship at a time, and remaining motionless in the space above the planet.

The Colonel let out a breath that he had been holding for the last half a minute and let his face fall into the palms of his hands. He remained like that for a moment before allowing himself to sit up. Once in his chair again he was professional. "Brody, give me a damage report," he asked in a mild voice.

Brody clearly did not want to look at the display of _Destiny_'s status, but managed to pull it up and read the Ancient symbols that drifted across the panel. "Oh God," he muttered as he saw all the sections of the ship coated in red. "Umm, we've got eight large hull breaches across the ship. Emergency shields are deployed around the occupied areas, but a lot of them are leaking atmosphere. All the shield emitters along the center of the ship are down; any functional emitters are operating at minimal sustainability. We've lost a lot of our reserves from that battle; I don't think we can power our weapons for more than a few shots."

"Not that we could do anything useful with a few shots," Volker complained to himself.

Before anyone could remark on that the communication console in the aft beeped. Eli turned away from the science station that he was at and quickly strode over to the comm console. He wasn't too surprised by what he saw. "The lead ship is sending us an audio and video feed," Eli informed. "Can't we just send them a postcard? 'Thanks for your help, enjoy your trip'. Or, we could offer to pay for their gas and they'll just move along."

"It's alright Eli. Put them through," Young ordered. He found the translator tossed on the floor beside the chair. After quickly retrieving it he sat in his chair again. By the time he had it attached to his head the monitors and kino were deployed. The picture was similar to last time; only the commanding officer now was not as senior as Vesari, both in age and rank. He appeared much more amiable though from his mild countenance which made Young hope for the best. "I'm Colonel Young, commanding officer of the _Destiny_. I suppose we owe you our gratitude," he said trying to come off as peacefully as possible.

The commanding officer of the Nati warship gave Young a warm smile, which shook him even more. "I am Commander Yvsan of the warship _Rotundi_. My crew is pleased that we arrived in time to be able to render assistance."

"So am I," Young started, taking a brief moment to carefully select his next words, "but if you don't mind me asking, why are you helping us?"

"Perhaps it would be best if I came aboard your ship," Yvsan offered, seemingly genuine in his desire to explain everything. "My ship has a great quantity of supplies that I imagine you could use at the moment to begin repairs. We could launch several shuttles to provide assistance, and I could come aboard in one of those shuttles."

Young's silence most likely betrayed his extreme discomfort at this offer. "While I appreciate the gesture, I think that…" was all he could saw before Yvsan interrupted him.

"Colonel Young, I understand your concern. As a ship's commander you must always be on the alert for dangers to your ship and crew," Yvsan said, appealing to Young. "However, we do not pose a danger to you. If we did, do you really thing that you would still be alive?"

His argument was valid; Young had to agree to that much. "I see your point," he conceded. Nodding, he took a moment to look around the bridge, seeing everyone giving him blank stares as they didn't know what was going on.

"Colonel, we've scanned your ship. We know that you are badly damaged. You ship is crippled and your likely have many wounded. We are willing to help you," he insisted. Young really wanted to believe him and to take him at his word, and so far Yvsan had given the Colonel no reason to doubt him.

Young turned to look at Kalin's body. He was still lying on the floor in a twisted, burnt position. Clearly there was no one available in the infirmary to come and get him. That only told him that things were very bad down there. Finally he settled his gaze back on Yvsan. "Until I know more about your intentions here, I'd like to keep it down to just one shuttle."

"Very well," Yvsan answered, not too surprised at the modified arrangement. "I will come alone. Our shuttles should be able to dock with your ship. Your port docking bay seems to be undamaged."

"We'll be waiting," Young replied. The transmission cut off immediately. He turned in the chair to face Eli. "I want you to prepare the port docking bay for an arrival."

Eli's face was in a state of confusion even before Young spoke. Clearly the snippets of the conversation that he could understand made him very worried. "I'm sorry, but are we actually going to let them get on board _Destiny_?"

"Yes, we are," he said, rising from his chair and preparing to leave the ruined bridge. Before he left he grabbed his radio which had also fallen to the floor in the battle. "Have that docking port ready." Young was ready to leave, but stopped over Kalin's crumpled body. He gingerly put his arms under the crew member and picked him up. The Colonel urgently walked out of the bridge, leaving the three remaining scientists in the room still shaken from the battle.

A short beep came from one of the front stations indicating that a ship was approaching. Gazing out of the window a small craft could be seen departing the closest Nati warship. It quickly flew away from its mother ship and headed right for _Destiny_. Eli sighed and leaned on the railings at the back of the room, watching the ship swiftly close the distance between ships. "Guess who's coming to dinner," he mumbled staring uncomfortably out of the viewport.

* * *

><p>A panel in the corridor flew off violently as a covered console overloaded. The panel flew across the cross the corridor and slammed into the opposite side with a loud thud. Even if it was incredibly loud and distracting, TJ didn't pay any mind to it as all her attention was focused on the Infirmary. The room was filled with injured and more were coming in all the time. TJ was moving around to the newcomers, figuring out who was in need of critical attention and who could wait.<p>

She walked over to Corporal Baras who was currently sitting on the floor because all the beds were full, except the scanner bed which she kept clear for an emergency. TJ inspected the gash across his arm. "It's not too bad. The wound looks mostly superficial; we just need to stop the bleeding," she determined. She was going to take a minute to disinfect the wound and wrap up his arm, but as soon as Colonel Young walked through with Kalin in his arms she stopped. "Wray, help bandage the Corporal," TJ said immediately moving on to a more seriously wounded patient. Camille walked up from the back of the Infirmary to help the Corporal and gasped in shock as she saw Kalin's burned and bloodied body. She tried to recover and focus on treating Baras.

"My God, what happened to him?" TJ asked, helping Young put him down on the scanner bed. As soon as he was on it she activated the scanning device. With a whir the machine activated and began running over his body, a digital image of his damaged body appearing on the laptop that was plugged into the device.

"He was caught in an explosion," Young said recalling the event painfully.

"I meant to send someone to come get him but more people just kept arriving and I couldn't coordinate anything. If I'd know I would've…" she started, feeling horribly guilty as she watched the display give her all the vital information about Kalin's condition.

"TJ, don't blame yourself, just do what you can for him," he said, stopping her from putting anymore guilt on herself. Then he paused and looked at the display on the laptop, which for him was incomprehensible. "Is there any chance for him?"

She stared at the data and just put her hands up in uncertainty. "I don't know, maybe. He's alive for the moment, and it seems most of the damage is external with a few broken bones. He might have a concussion, I'm not certain. But he's been burned badly over eighty percent of his body. Even if I could do something right now to save him, he would never fully recover."

Young nodded, understanding how bad his condition was. He took a rough breath and looked around the rest of the infirmary. It seemed liked half the crew was in here, either hurt or trying to help out the injured. The image frightened him. "How bad is it?" he had to ask.

Glumly she instinctively looked to the two body bags on the floor at the back of the infirmary. "Weber and Lougheed got trapped in a section of corridor with a hull breach. By the time the shields sealed the breach and help could arrive they had already asphyxiated," she said slowly. "There are some broken bones from heavy equipment being thrown into people, but most of the injuries are lacerations or burns."

The radio on Young's belt squawked to life. "Colonel Young, this is Brody."

He quickly retrieved the radio and brought it up. "This is Young, go ahead."

"The shuttle just docked with us," he informed. "I'm reading one life sign inside, but I'm keeping the door locked for now."

"Roger that, I'll open it from my end," Young said. "Young out." He put the radio back on his belt and looked to TJ who had been working on Kalin as he talked. "I have to go."

She gazed up at him for a moment. "I'll do what I can for these people."

Young nodded confidently to her. "I know you will." Taking another few seconds, he looked around the infirmary and then marched out. Airman Mackie had been waiting outside the infirmary for the Colonel and followed at his heels as soon as he left for the docking port.

* * *

><p>The lock on the large door to the shuttle spun around after Young had pushed the button on the side of the door. The light above quickly switched to green and the door slid open. Yvsan was waiting on the other side of the door patiently. Airmen Mackie tensed and raised his rifle a bit, but Young immediately put his arm on the barrel of the weapon and lowered it. The interior of the shuttle was different in design from <em>Destiny<em>'s shuttles even if it had similar dimensions. It had a cleaner and smoother appearance in the metal, and was illuminated much more than one of their shuttles. In the front there was only a port and starboard station right at the viewport, making the command section much more compact and opening room for storage. Two containers sat on the seat to the left of Yvsan; they were just simple metal boxes with a lid and control pad on the top.

Once the door was fully open, Yvsan gave Young a warm smile. "Colonel Young," he said in a professional though slightly shaky voice, "it is a pleasure to meet you in person."

"Commander," he said in response very tersely. It seemed to upset Yvsan so the Colonel expanded a bit. "Welcome onboard the _Destiny_. I would like to say again how much we appreciated your help."

He nodded respectfully in response. "Not all of us wish you and your crew harm."

"I'll admit, I am curious what motivated you to help us in the first place," Young asked pointedly, trying not to let suspicion appear in his tone.

"I would be glad to explain everything to you," Yvsan said, "but perhaps it would be best if I were to explain it to your entire command staff at once, to help accelerate the dissemination of information."

Mackie was standing awkwardly this whole time, only able to partially follow the exchange from what Young had said. The awkwardness was apparent to Yvsan who was gazing at the two men. "I took the liberty of bringing something with me that might be able to help solve one problem between our people," he said. Carefully he took a step to the containers nearest him and keyed in a short command on the pad. The lid opened and revealed trays of the translator devices. "It is unnerving when one relies on others to give you the information that they deem worthy to pass on. With these your whole crew will be able to understand us. Maybe once our two people are able to talk to each other easily, we can start to work together."

Young looked uncomfortably at the containers, but gave a short nod in agreement. "Airmen, secure those boxes," he said. Mackie acknowledged his order by walking into the shuttle. Yvsan closed the container and stepped back allowing Mackie to stack them and pick them up. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the bridge." He nodded to the Airmen, gesturing down the hallway in the direction of the nearest elevator. Mackie immediately went walking down the hallway. As he cleared the shuttle Young stepped back and indicated for Yvsan to follow after them.

The three men didn't have very far to go to reach the elevator, but the trip seemed to take a while. They moved in silence the entire time. Many of the pipes that lined the ceiling and walls were busted and leaking. The flickering lights in the corridor also added to the dysfunction that this ship was suffering at the current moment. To Young's extreme satisfaction they did not encounter any crew members on the way; he was not interested in having to deal with anyone's reaction to seeing a stranger on _Destiny_. The trip in the elevator was quick, but filled with a very uncomfortable silence. Clearly Yvsan was fascinated by the ship as he was look intently down every corridor and at every mechanism that riddles the corridors, but also chose to avoid the small talk.

A moment after the painful elevator trip ended, they all entered the bridge. Young noticed that the scenery had not changed in any drastic way since his departure. The three scientists looked up from their various stations and stared hard at the Nati Commander. Most likely since he realized his words would be falling on deaf ears, Yvsan chose sustain his silence, turning to look at Young.

"Eli," Young said, taking the two boxes and placing them on the small table housing the communications station, "these containers have more translators that might come in handy. Can you check them to make sure they are safe?" he asked quietly, tapping the same buttons he had seen Yvsan press to open it earlier. He was rewarded when it opened, revealing the rows of translators.

"Forgive me, but I assure you those devices have not been tampered with in any way," Yvsan said quickly in a mildly defensive way. "I've made it clear that if we had any wish to harm your crew we would not need to resort to such creative means to do so."

"And I'd really like to just take everyone in the universe at their word, but I've learned the hard way that erring on the side of caution from time to time isn't a bad idea," Young replied roughly, trying to stay patient with the Commander. Not particularly happy with how he was being treated, Yvsan glowered at Young but took a step back and let the Colonel proceed.

Eli's eyes darted quickly from Young to Yvsan as he tried to follow the conversation to the best of his ability. Finally he swallowed hard and addressed Young. "Umm, sir, I don't really know what I would even be looking for. We tried to study the one translator that we already had but we didn't learn too much, and… well we didn't crack it open because we figured we might need it for future use. The only way to test it is to actually try it out." He grinned apologetically as he delivered the news.

Young stared at Yvsan for a moment, trying to figure him out as best he could. He had to admit to himself repetitively that all the facts seemed to prove that this man was genuine in his desire to help. Or maybe in all the troubles they were in now he just wanted to believe that there might be someone out there willing to help. Regardless, he felt that Yvsan was right; at this moment he was in no position to refuse any kind of help. He turned to Eli, now fully committed to seeing this through as his mind was made up. "Put it on," he ordered. "We need their help and to do that we need to communicate with them."

"Right," Eli said, gingerly taking one of the small devices out from the container. He stared at it for a good long moment before raising it up a little bit. "If this thing assimilates me, you both better save me from becoming a drone," he said gesturing to Brody and Volker. They had both walked up closer to the communication station but kept a respectful distance. Smirking at his own comment, he quickly put the device to his head without allowing himself to over think it. Everyone waited for a second before he shrugged and looked to the Colonel. "I feel normal, human, in control of my individuality, and best of all, no messages in my inbox from the collective."

"Good." The Colonel picked three more devices from the box and gave one to Brody, Volker, and Mackie. "You guys as well." Mackie took it quickly and put it on without more than a moment's hesitation.

Brody wasn't quite sold on this idea. "Colonel, we barely know anything about this technology. It was originally an interrogation device developed by a hostile alien…"

"Mr. Brody, I am not making this decision lightly," Young snapped. "I understand the risks; believe me I do. But right now we don't have another choice. Tell me I'm wrong."

He looked at Young in momentary defiance, but couldn't find anything to say. He unwillingly took the two translators and gave one to Volker. They put them on together, and after a moment of discomfort looked to Young.

"Now that that's over with," Young said, moving to sit in the central chair in an attempt to move the conversation towards the front of the room, "you promised me that explanation."

Volker and Brody both moved to their respective stations from the front, and Eli walked up there as well and leaned on the wall. Airman Mackie kept a position by the railing on the raised platform in the rear of the room. Yvsan walked to a position to the left of Colonel Young where the deck plates were not ruined that allowed him to address all of the senior officers.

"I suppose proper introductions are now in order, since you all can understand me," he started.

Young decided to go first. "These are the head scientists on our crew, and our primary command crew. Doctors Adam Brody and Dale Volker, and Eli Wallace," Young said, pointing at the three men as he introduced them. Yvsan nodded politely to each of them.

"My name is Yvsan, a Commander… or I should say former Commander of the Nati Imperial Defense Force." He stressed the latter half of that statement, catching everyone's attention. "I gather that in your time within Nati space, you have witnessed the rather aggressive policies of the Defense Force."

"If by that you mean the total annihilation of any competing species that seems to pose even the smallest threat to the preservation of relics from the 'Lords of the Rings', AND relentless pursuit of our ship because they think we're heretics… then yeah, we've witnessed those policies," Eli snapped quickly and sarcastically, earning a dark sidelong glance from the Colonel.

"Eli, not right now," he said.

"No, Colonel Young… he's right," Yvsan remarked in a downcast voice. "It was that exact attitude by our leaders that forced these ships to split from our people. As much as we wanted to protect and honor the relics given to us by our Lords, we did not see that giving us the right to be executioner to so many across our space. Who we had become as a people disgusted us, but we only felt this in silence for a long time. It was because of your arrival in our territory that we were given a chance to split away and begin to push for a change. Our actions saved us, as the Great Slaughter seemed to happen almost immediately afterwards."

"Great Slaughter?" Volker asked, frowning in confusion from his seat. "What was that?"

Yvsan looked to address him, willing to explain everything. "Shortly after your attack on our home world, a massive and unidentified force attacked all of our temple-worlds simultaneously. As the majority of our fleet is designated with defending those worlds, our Defense Force was crippled."

"Yeah, we found that out when we passed through one of your solar systems," Eli chipped in, having mostly lost any hostility with the man. "We never did find out who… or what was responsible."

"It is still a mystery to us. All we do know is that on that day our civilization was brought to its knees. Whole colonies and fleets were obliterated with no survivors or records of the attack. Millions of soldiers… and civilians were gone," Yvsan lamented, shuffling around the port side of the room as he recalled the events painfully. He turned to stare at the remains of his fleet from the viewport. "Those ships were saved because we ran… because we left our people."

Young was taken aback by this speech. It never occurred to him how much this man and his crew might have gone through, how many difficult decisions they had made. "You know it's not your fault, in any way. If you had stayed, you would have died an empty death; you wouldn't have been able to save your people."

"It doesn't change the fact that to our people we are rebels, traitors; heretics worse than you," Yvsan said earnestly to the bridge crew. "Our enemy is the same, and that is why you have no reason to fear us."

"If that's all true," Young said after taking a moment to let this information absorb, "then I don't think I need to say how much we could use an ally out here. We're alone, far from home, and everywhere we've gone we've just met more obstacles."

Yvsan looked straight at Young. "Then it pleases me to say that you have found an ally. As a gesture of good faith, I would like to extend my original offer once more. My ships have supplies that could be of great use to you. Some of my crew are engineers and could assist in repairs."

"We could use the raw materials and components," Brody admitted to Young. "As far as we can tell a lot of our systems were shot to hell; we need new pieces to fix them."

"And with a lot of the crew in the infirmary or repairing critical damage, we could use the extra manpower," Eli said from the back. Young grimaced as he recalled the scene in the crowded infirmary.

"While our design may differ from yours," Yvsan said, "I am confident that the actual components will be compatible with your ship."

"There's really no way I can say no right now," Young conceded. "But before we organize this repair effort, I'd like to know how you found us. If there's a way to track _Destiny_ then I need to know about it."

Yvsan looked surprised at the question at first. "We didn't know you were here," he said. "Our fleet was hiding not too far from here when we received a powerful transmission containing the coordinates of this planet. We also had access to the deployment of Defense Force vessels and discovered that the _Vindictio _was already here. Her commander, Admiral Vesari, is one of the most brutal officers in the Defense Force. In our judgment, we realized that removing him from power would be a worthy goal. Once we arrived and found you here, we realized how important it would be to contact you."

"For the record, your timing was good, but ten minutes earlier wouldn't have been bad either," Eli quipped.

"I think we're just happy you showed up at all," Young remarked quickly, overriding Eli. "Vesari nearly destroyed us. We didn't stand a chance against that kind of firepower. If it wasn't for our combined power, he wouldn't have left."

At this the Nati commander grew much more serious. "Unfortunately, you can expect him to return very shortly, and with more warships," he said gravely.

"He's right," Brody said suddenly. Young snapped his head to him in surprise. "Just before you got back to the bridge I noticed that the signal on Vesari's ship came to a dead stop two light-years away from him. I didn't really get a chance to mention that with everything going on."

"Vesari will take the time to make any necessary repairs and to request assistance. We can expect a powerful fleet to be here before the day is over, and I do not see how we can defend ourselves against that force," he warned. "I would recommend that we make all emergency repairs and depart from this system immediately."

Young shook his head at the mention of leaving. "I'm afraid that's impossible. _Destiny_ operates on an auto-pilot which controls our FTL jumps. Also we have people on the surface of the planet. They are completing a critical and time-sensitive mission. Until they are done, we can't go anywhere. I'm not sure how your people operate, but we don't leave our people behind."

Taking a beat, Yvsan walked up to the window and stood alongside Young. He turned to look to the planet and his ships orbiting the planet. Shuttles could be seen flying back and forth between the intact ships and the crippled ones. "Responsibility and loyalty are things I understand." He looked to Young. "We will stand by you, and help you defend your crew, and in the process I know this is the best course of action for my crew. Our scans of the planet showed that there were still several short-range attack ships within the atmosphere. We can bring one of our ships into the atmosphere and quickly remove then with anti-air fire. Once we have secured the region I will deploy shuttles to search for your crew."

"And I'll go with you," Young interjected quickly. "The structure my team is at is interfering with our communications. If you go in alone without any advance warning, my people will simply open fire on you. I can go ahead of your people and alert them."

"A logical precaution," the Commander said, not indicating any problem with the request. "I will take you to the surface myself if you wish. When would you like to proceed?"

"Now, if that's not a problem," the Colonel replied briskly. "Eli, I want you to get in touch with the _Rotundi. _Give them a list of any materials we need to make repairs and meet them at the docking bays." He started to walk off the bridge, gesturing for Yvsan to follow him. "I want you to distribute these translators to all personnel that will be working with the Nati engineers. I don't want to hear that there were any issues working with their crew when I get back, just keep a close eye on them. Does anyone have a problem with those orders?" he asked from the doorway, standing still as he waited for an answer from everyone in the room.

Eli answered first, moving to the communications station. "I'll be good."

Both Volker and Brody nodded their affirmative, turning in their seats to return to work. Young walked up to the Airmen who had picked up the two boxes of translators. "Pass the message on to the crew as you hand those out. Explain to them that cooperation is essential."

"Yes, sir," Mackie said before he walked out of the bridge ahead of the Colonel.

Young turned to reach Yvsan who was standing patiently in the hallway outside the bridge. He was looking around with interest at everything. "If we have some more time later Colonel, I would love a chance to tour this ship," he said excitedly. "The lore surrounding this craft is told to every child; being here is a dream come true."

"Commander, if we survive this day, I will personally give you that tour," Young offered as he led Yvsan down to the elevator.

* * *

><p>The Colonel sat in the co-pilot's seat as Yvsan pulled the shuttle away from <em>Destiny<em> smoothly. Taking a moment to observe the controls Young noticed that the interface was somewhat similar to that of the _Destiny_ shuttle, but did show the influence of several thousand years of streamlining and innovation. Young watched the shuttle quickly glide across the length of the hull and proceed to move on to the planet. Two shuttles popped into view and passed right overhead.

"They should be bringing over essential materials on these shuttles," Yvsan commented, tapping away at the controls. "One of my ships will move in closer to _Destiny_ soon to begin external repairs. Our cruisers are equipped with sophisticated platforms that will be able to easily seal your hull breaches."

Right on cue, the closest warship moved away from the task force and moved towards _Destiny_. As it began to pass over the shuttle, Young could see several bays opening on the underside of the ship. From a quick glance he saw what looked like robotic arms and various equipment meant to facilitate repairs. "You guys sure come prepared."

Yvsan chuckled at the comment. "Each cruiser, while not overpowered, is capable of operating independently and providing for its crew and maintaining itself indefinitely. It is quite useful for deep space operations."

A second cruiser broke off from the ranks and began to fly parallel with the shuttle to the planet. Several more shuttles flew out from a port side bay and surrounded them. "Don't be concerned Colonel. They're escorting us to the surface. Our ships are also capable of operating within an atmosphere and can be invaluable in suppressing small enemy forces." At that moment the shuttle began to shake mildly and a heat wave formed across the nose of the craft. "We've entered the atmosphere. From here it's less than a minute to reach the structure." As advertised, the shaking grew stronger for a few seconds and quickly dissipated. Several shuttles sped ahead of them, quickly passing through the clouds and disappearing from sight. The cruiser did the same, casting a massive shadow on the clouds as it descended. A moment later Yvsan passed the shuttle through the clouds as well. The vapors wisped around the nose for a few seconds and quickly thinned out. Finally they passed through and encountered a stunning vista. A lush green valley sat right at the base of a tall mountain range. There was a waterfall cutting through the mountains that ran through the valley and emptied out into what seemed to be a large sea. The mountains went on for quite a while. Yvsan's cruiser positioned itself right atop the tallest mountain peak, which was the source of the power signal.

"I haven't been on the surface of a planet in at least three years," Yvsan commented as he gazed at the scenery. "I almost forgot how beautiful it can look."

Young nodded in agreement as he read the output on his terminal. He noticed something that caught his eye. "What are they doing?" he asked to himself.

"What are you referring to?" Yvsan asked, taking a moment to look away from his own console.

"Here," the Colonel said pointing to the screen, "about 113 kilometers northeast of this location," he said struggling to interpret the somewhat familiar information display. "It looks like a dozen enemy fighters hovering over a ravine."

The Commander took a moment to check the sensor readings himself. "Yes I see it. They're on a standard search pattern." A few small dots of blue energy flew away from the fighters and into a ravine. "I wonder what they're firing at."

"Have you found any sign of our shuttle?" Young asked, having looked for any sign of it on the sensors.

Yvsan sighed as he positioned the shuttle right below the cruiser. "I don't see them, but it looks like those attack craft are looking for something. Sensors show what seems to be a rock slide at the bottom of the ravine; it's possible your shuttle is down there."

"If that's true, then we need to get to them before those fighters do," Young said urgently. "Why aren't they going after us?"

"The attack craft sensors operate on a very short range," Yvsan explained. "They won't know anything about the engagement in orbit; as far as they are aware we are just reinforcements."

Young nodded at this and look at Yvsan with some hope. "That means we have the element of surprise."

The commander turned to look at Young with a crafty smile. "I like your thinking." He tapped a few buttons on his console and activated a communication line to his cruiser. "_Rotundi_, target the attack craft over these coordinates with suppression fire set to proximity detonation. Fire when ready."

"Understood Commander," was the response that came from his executive officer. Nothing happened for about ten seconds, but after that the turrets on the starboard side of the cruiser deployed and aimed at the cluster of fighters. One at a time the weapon placements fired a blue burst of energy right at the group. The first shot traveled right to the center of the group and detonated, splashing three nearby fighters with heat and energy. Their burning hulks went spinning away from the group and crashed into the mountainside. A dozen more pulses flew into the remaining fighters and detonated in the air, quickly destroying all of the fighters before they could react. In just a few seconds all of the enemy craft were destroying, their smoldering remains lying all across the mountains.

"I'll move us in closer to that ravine," Yvsan informed as he began to pilot the craft. "If there is something down there we'll detect it."

* * *

><p>"What in the hell was that?" Barnes asked. The small explosions in the rock had stopped a moment ago. They were replaced by loud explosions that seemed to come from far away, and finally everything went silent.<p>

Scott fidgeted as he was trying to stay awake, but he had somewhat zoned out in the last minute. "What did you say?" he asked in a weak voice.

She looked around the shuttle interior and then to the rock filled ravine right outside the opened door. "They've stopped firing. I wonder why." The Corporal sighed as she slumped in her seat. "I wish we still had sensors."

"Maybe they left," Scott speculated. A moment after he said that a powerful quaking hit the shuttle. "Or not." A loud explosion and smashing of rocks could be heard from directly behind the shuttle. A bright white light shone through the small gaps in the rocks, illuminating the interior of the shuttle. The shuttle was filled with a massive heat wave at the same time. The metal surfaces of the shuttle pinged loudly as small chunks of rock were thrown into the shuttle, pelting both Scott and Barnes. This lasted for about six seconds and then the tremors quickly subsided, the light and heat dissipating as well.

The rock that was propped up against the aft hatch cracked and fell backwards, opening the shuttle to the air. All of the tumbling rock fell into a burning trench that lay behind the shuttle. Barnes got up and stood at the foot of the shuttle hatch and stared at the one hundred meter trench. Rock from the sides kept falling into it, flattening it out and covering the burning earth at the bottom of it. "What the…" she mumbled, completely confused about what had happened.

As she was staring outside a dark shadow began to pass over and cover the ravine in darkness. It was followed with a low rumble that echoed deeply through the ravine. She looked up from the inside and stared in fear at what she saw. "Lieutenant…" Barnes said in a panic, "I think I know why they stopped."

A massive Nati warship just parked itself a few hundred meters above the crash site of the shuttle. From her vantage point she thought she could make out a platform on the bottom of the hull that was glowing bright blue and resembled a weapon. As the glowing dulled she reasoned that was some drill or beam weapon that had just cut through the rubble to expose the shuttle.

"Guess they found an easier way to get to us," Scott remarked. "They must be interested in us or this ship… or they would've just blown us up."

In the distance Barnes could see a small craft descent towards their location. "Sir, looks like we've got some friends who want to pay a visit," she said announcing their arrival. Scott couldn't see much from his position, but tried to arc his head regardless. When it caused him too much discomfort to move he gave up and moved back into his previous position.

"You should get out of here, try to find your way back to the mountain," Scott said with half opened eyes. "Maybe you could find Sergeant Greer."

Barnes turned back to him and put on a confounded countenance. "First of all, I already said I'm not going to just leave you. Secondly, there's no way I could get away." She pressed the locking mechanism on the door, but was disappointed as it refused to close. With no other choice, she grabbed the rifle off of the opposite seat and checked the magazine. She moved to Scott and handed him her handgun.

Scott smirked as she squatted in front of him and readied her weapon. "Let's give them hell." He cocked his pistol and used both arms to steady to weapon as he aimed it at the aft hatch.

The craft quickly completed its descent and landed right behind the shuttle, its powerful engines kicking up massive amounts of dust. Nothing could be seen, and the only way that Scott could tell that the craft had landed was by listening to the engines hum growing weaker. The dust flew into the shuttle through the open hatch and stung both of their eyes. It took a moment before the dust began to slightly settle. At that point, the sound from the engine was completely gone, letting the entire ravine settle in an eerie silence. Finally a crunching of small rocks could be heard, informing Scott and Barnes that someone was approaching the shuttle. The thinning dust allowed Barnes to see better, and she could start to see the outline of a single person. She was about to pull the trigger when he started to speak.

"Lieutenant Scott!" Young shouted into the shuttle. "Is anyone in there?"

The Corporal let her rifle drop down a little as she waited for the dust to continue to settle. It took a couple of moments but it thinned out enough that she could clearly see Colonel Young standing in front of a landed craft. He took a few steps forward to see into the darkened shuttle interior. Once a little bit closer he could make out Barnes and Scott. He remarked to Barnes. "I hope you aren't planning on using that rifle on me Corporal," he said.

She looked at him speechless for a long moment before she snapped back into reality. "No sir, I just… I didn't expect to see you," she said, lowering her weapon and moving to help support Scott. Young walked into the crippled shuttle and helped support him from the other side.

"I can understand that. You alright Lieutenant?" he asked.

Scott chuckled as they stood him tall. He placed the pistol back in his holster. "Sure am doing better now that you're here sir."

"Glad to hear that, but I still think a doctor would be better for you," he said, remarking on his still bleeding head wound.

"I can agree to that," Scott returned. Young and Barnes slowly guided him out of the shuttle and onto the uneven rock-covered ground. "Colonel Young, if I might ask, just what are you doing here? What ship is this?"

"I'll answer that in a minute," he replied as he guided them around the side of the Nati shuttle towards the aft hatch. They took it slow so it took a little while for them to reach the hatch. Once inside, Young hopped into the shuttle's deck which was about a meter off the ground. From there he helped pull Scott up. Then Barnes got up and they both sat Scott on the nearest seat.

"Sir," Barnes warned, drawing her rifle as Yvsan rose from the pilot's seat to inspect the new arrivals. He stopped and raised his hands to show he was unarmed.

Young moved quickly to pull her arm down so she couldn't fire. "At ease, Corporal; he's with us," he explained. Her incredulous expression prompted him to further explain. "Commander Yvsan and his fleet arrived here a short while ago and repelled the enemy capital ship. If it wasn't for them we'd be dead right now. They are rebels fighting against the Nati, and they've have offered to protect us."

"This might be the concussion talking," Scott said from his seat, "but I like the idea of having friends."

"So do I, Lieutenant," Young returned. He looked at Barnes intently until she lowered her weapon. Then he moved to Yvsan. "I think it would be helpful if you had any more translators."

The commander nodded in agreement and moved to the cockpit. He pushed a small button underneath the co-pilots console which extended a tray. Inside were a few translators. Yvsan took one and closed the tray. He walked up and gave it to Young.

Young passed it on to Barnes, ordering her to put it on. She complied and mildly winced as the device attached itself to her head. Then he looked inquisitively to Yvsan. "Why only one?"

"Your other officer has sustained a serious head injury," Yvsan explained; already back in the pilot's seat he closed the aft hatch and started the engines. "There is a chance it could cause brain damage; until he is cared for I would not recommend him wearing this device."

"Thanks for the consideration," Young said. Barnes sat next to Scott and helped to hold him steady as the shuttle began to rock and lift-off.

"I am taking us to my ship. The medical facilities there will be sufficient to care for him. Our anatomies do not seem to be dissimilar, and right now I would imagine your ship's doctor is busy enough," Yvsan said. A dust cloud rose to cover the shuttle as the engines roared to life. In a brief moment the shuttle rose far above the cloud and proceeded to the cruiser hovering right above it.

Young didn't seem completely happy with the idea of his crew being treated on an alien ship, but he realized the argument was valid. "That's fine. Lieutenant, where's the rest of the team? We haven't been able to reach them on the radio."

Scott groaned and strained to hold his head up. "We dropped them off at the base of the mountain. I… I think they went into the mountain."

"I can show you the coordinates where we last saw them," Barnes offered. Young nodded and walked her up to the cockpit. At this point, the shuttle was already inside the landing bay of the cruiser. It was slowing down to land on an empty platform. Barnes looked to the co-pilot's terminal which displayed the ground below them. She only needed a few seconds to adjust to the layout and recall where they had dropped off Rush and soldiers. "Here sir, this is where we left them. I remember seeing them head in this direction into a forest. From there, it only makes sense if they were going towards the mountain." Yvsan glanced at the console and bunch in the coordinates on his console.

The shuttle landed with a mild thump and the engines quickly quieted. The aft hatch slid open and two Nati officers entered. They were dressed in bright white tunics and trousers; to Young's best guess they were doctors. "Alright Corporal, we'll go after them. You stay here with Scott."

Barnes saluted and walked back to help Scott up. She directed him off the shuttle and onto a hovering gurney the doctors had brought. With that Young sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "I wouldn't mind it if we could have some back-up, just in case we run into a firefight on the surface," Young said as the door closed.

"I've already ordered two troop transports to follow us down," Yvsan said. "I have the coordinates here; we'll arrive in a minute." He could see Young staring absently out the viewport, clearly still focusing on his injured officer. "My crew will take good care of your people. Once he's stable I will have them brought to _Destiny_ if that makes you feel better."

Young sighed and rested his head in the palm of his hand. "It never gets easier seeing someone under your command injured… possibly fatally."

"It's not supposed to be easy," Yvsan said downcast as he looked up to space. "I know that at the end of this day I will have to bury hundreds of men because they followed my orders, and the mere thought of that almost makes me want to just give up. But I know I can't." He looked reassuringly to Young. "I suppose that's why we are the commanders; because we've learned how to make the difficult decisions and still go on."

The Colonel lifted his head up and briefly glanced to Yvsan. "Thank you… for everything. I realize my crew and I have been… less than receptive to you, but we're just not used to having allies. I don't know how we could every repay you for all you've done."

Yvsan laughed heartily at Young. "Colonel Young, I think the only payment any of us can hope for is being alive tomorrow."

As they spoke, the forest came into focus in front of them. They were not far away from the mountain. "This is pretty close to where we need to be. I doubt we can put this shuttle down any closer to the mountain; not with all that tree cover."

"Then we can walk a bit," Yvsan said as he piloted the shuttle to the ground at the edge of the tree line. The two transports came into sight as well and landed directly in front of the shuttle. The doors on the transport opened immediately and over two dozen soldiers poured out of each ship. With a jostle the shuttle landed. Turning the engines off, Yvsan got up from his chair and retrieved a small box of translators from a tray at his station. "I suppose you'll want to lead the way, in case we run into any of your people."

Nodding, Young walked to the now open hatch and stepped down onto the tall grass.

* * *

><p>Greer stood motionless in front of the sealed room contained Rush. Everyone else in the room was similarly still, not having anything to do other than wait for trouble to come pouring out of the small entrance they were all focused on. Varro was squatting within an alcove close to the Sergeant, protecting himself from a direct line of sight to the opening.<p>

"You sure you wouldn't rather stand somewhere less in the open?" he remarked to Greer for about the tenth time.

"I'm good right here," Greer replied, not taking his eyes off of the corridor beyond the entrance. It curved left almost immediately, so there was not much that he could see. Atienza was standing right at the curve of the corridor, allowing him to see further down the passage.

Varro sighed and finally stood up, taking a couple of short steps closer to Greer. "It's been over an hour since we've heard for anyone."

"We're under a mountain for the moment," Greer replied coolly, "and right next to a pretty big power source. They probably can't get a radio signal down here."

"Or, maybe there's no one left to send a signal," he said quietly to the Sergeant, not wanting to get anyone's attention even though everyone was probably thinking the same thing.

Greer looked away from the entrance and began to glare darkly at Varro. "I don't want to hear talk like that, you get me?"

Ready to continue talking, Varro was stopped as Airman Richmond came running down the corridor and into the large antechamber. He paused for a moment to catch his breath. As he did everyone in the room raised their weapons and prepared for a Nati squad to come running in after him. "What is it, Airman?" Greer asked.

Richmond shook his head and walked up calmly to Greer. "It's Colonel Young, sir. He's… um… he has a Nati officer and a squad of soldiers with him; he says they're here to help."

Greer frowned at the news, as did Varro. "I'm not sure if I like the sound of that," he said.

"Maybe we should let the Colonel explain the situation first," Varro suggested.

"Fine, but I want all of you to keep a close eye on our company," Greer ordered, turning his weapon to a medium setting. "You wanna bring them down here?" he asked Richmond after a moment.

The Airman nodded and ran down the corridor out of sight. He returned a few seconds with Young and one Nati officer right behind him. Greer tensed slightly but tried not to show his apprehension to Young.

"Sergeant, I'm glad to see you're alive," Young said as he stopped in front of Greer. He took a moment to look around the room. After a moment he turned his attention to the Sergeant. "This is probably going to be a little sudden for you, and a lot to take in, but this man is on our side," he said gesturing to Yvsan. "He's the commander of an insurgent Nati force that has already helped us to fight off the enemy."

"Is that so?" Greer said with distrust lining his voice.

"I realize it's hard to believe, but they are our allies right now, and I don't need to tell you that we need allies," Young said loud enough that everyone in the antechamber could hear him. "He's put a squad of Nati guards at the mouth of this cave to keep any enemy from getting in here." Young pulled out six translators from his shirt pocket. "These will allow you to communicate." He gave one to Greer and the rest to Varro, gesturing to the other men in the room. Varro quickly put the device on and walked around the room to hand out the other four. "Working with them won't be a problem, will it Sergeant?"

Greer stood quietly for a few seconds before unhappily accepting the translator and applying it his forehead. "No, sir; there'll be no problem."

"Glad to hear that," Young said, satisfied for the moment that he had managed to bring everyone up to speed on this matter. "Commander Yvsan, this is Sergeant Greer. I'd like all your men to coordinate their defense efforts for this site with him."

"Very well Colonel Young. I hope that having our soldiers working together might help relieve some tension and build trust," he said to Young and Greer. The Sergeant showed no reaction to the words as he stared blankly at Yvsan.

Breaking the awkward silence that had just begun, Young spoke up. "Where's Rush?"

Greer took a moment before he peeled his attention away from Yvsan. He glanced to Young and then turned to gesture at the door behind him. "He went in there, sir. There was a communication terminal in the room. The door sealed itself after he activated the device."

Young nodded as he looked the door up and down. "I suppose that's a safe place for him to be in." He turned back to face the entrance and walked up and down the room, surveying the features of the room. He noticed the tall ceiling and many alcoves in which his Airmen were standing in. Varro had given all the men translators and they had all put the devices on their heads. He saw Chu against the wall holding his wound. "How is he?" Young asked the Sergeant.

"He's holding together sir; at least for the moment. He probably needs to get back to TJ ASAP though," he replied, directing all of his attention to the Nati Commander.

"Right," Young said taking uncomfortable notice of Greer's attitude. He realized that Greer had good reason to act that way, and he couldn't order him to change his perceptions of these people. Maybe Yvsan was right and things would improve with time and cooperation. He turned to the Commander. "Do you think you could bring one of our shuttles in to bring our wounded to _Destiny_?"

Yvsan nodded in reply. "Of course, that won't be an issue." With that he walked away and quickly relayed some orders onto is wrist communicator.

With one issue taken care of, Young took another look around the chamber. "There's not much to see here, is there?"

"Actually, we did find something worth seeing," Varro said as he joined Young and Greer. He gained the Colonel's attention as he spoke. "We scouted out the other path at the split in the cave."

"What did you find?" Young asked in interest.

Varro hesitated for a moment and look to Greer who gave him the same ambivalent look. "Maybe it's just best if you saw it for yourself." He started to walk to the entrance. Young followed after him taking Yvsan with him. The three walked back up to the three-way intersection in the corridor and proceeded down the path on the right. It was a longer walk than the other side, and it opened into a much larger antechamber.

This room must have been located right in the center of the mountain because the ceiling seemed to go on for a long distance, possibly to the top of the mountain. The floor plan for the room was circular, with no columns or outstanding architectural features. Terminals lined the walls and from what Young could tell their design was definitely Ancient, from the same time period as _Destiny_. As impressive as all this was, what really caught Young's attention was the ten meter wide hole in the center of the room. A brilliant blue glow came from the hole and filled the lower level of the room with light. Young saw ladders on either end of the opening and several large consoles right by the edge.

"What is this place?" he asked, walking up to the edge of the hole.

"I don't know. We wanted to secure the rest of this area, make sure there weren't more Nati soldiers hiding and we found this," Varro explained. He followed Young up to the opening and leaned against the railing that stood at the edge. "Whatever it is, it must be important."

"I'll bet," Young said in a quiet voice as he peered over the edge. The hole went down for a long way, quite possibly all the way to the planet's core. A metal conduit ran up the whole way, the occasional transparent area of the conduit casting the blue glow he noticed earlier. The conduit stopped right below the lip of the hole and branched off in opposing horizontal direction. The ladders led to a large platform that ran along the conduits in either direction. "Makes you wish Rush was here."

Varro chuckled lightly. "I went down to that platform to see how far those tubes go. From what I can tell, they just go on and on either way."

"This could be a power source of some kind," Yvsan reasoned, looking at the large terminal and monitor nearest the edge. "But it seems to be too large just to power your communication station. I imagine there must be more on this planet that we have already seen."

"It's definitely possible," Young said. He stepped away from the railing and looked at the some terminal. "From what we know of the Ancients, they never did things small. Maybe once everything is all done with we might have a chance to find out what else is down here."

"Might I recommend that I post some of my troops in this chamber?" Yvsan said after a moment of thought. "From what I can tell this room is probably integral to the success of your mission. It would be wise to protect it. I can also deploy a squad to the stone room so all the areas of interest are protected."

Young considered it quickly. "That sounds like a good precaution. When you're done with that you should take some time to look around the systems. _Destiny_ can go without us for a few hours."

Yvsan smiled at the offer and stepped away from the two of them. He walked across the room, surveying the various terminals. As he did that he raised his left arm and activated the communicator on his wrist. He continued to look across the room while he was giving orders on the device.

Since he was out of earshot for the moment, Varro walked up to Young. "I hope you know what you're doing, sir."

Young didn't answer immediately. He watched as Yvsan observed the room in keen interest, stopping at a terminal every now and then to read its output. "So far they've given us no reason not to trust them. Everything they've done has helped us out greatly." Young sighed and moved back to the railing. He looked down, trying to see how far down he could see. "I just hope everything is going alright on Rush's end."

* * *

><p>Rush strode down the long hall that led to the main chamber of the Ancient facility. The same assistant who had given him documents upon his arrival was now escorting Rush through the semi-crowded forum. From what Palos told him and what he had gathered in the short time that he had been following this young man, he was a huge supporter of Palos' work. His name was Syno and even though he seemed too young to be of any use in Rush's opinion, he was preeminently qualified to assist in Palos' work.<p>

As they walked the hall they passed dozens of scientists and researchers, all of whom watched and whispered as Rush walked onward. Some glanced up from their work on what looked similar to Kino remotes as he passed them. Most gave him a small encouraging look, but Rush could sense a shadow of futility on their faces as well.

"Don't pay attention to them," Syno said as they passed a group of five Ancients giving him an awkward stare. "They're just not used to seeing someone fight for what they believe in."

"Then how does anything ever get done?" Rush said aloud, mostly to himself.

Syno gave Rush a confused side-long glance. "Well you have been here a lot longer than I have, so you know more about these projects than I do, but it seems that you've been a special case. I've never heard of a research project with as much heated opposition as the _Destiny _proposal. I'll admit, it's made working for you a fascinating experience." He spoke energetically, almost excited that there was a challenge for him at this position. Rush didn't have his youth to appreciate it in this way; he just had to complete his mission here. "Oh no," he mumbled as a mid-aged scientist with a grim face walked up, blocking Rush and his assistant from proceeding.

The man looked weary and bitter as he glared at Rush, the wrinkles becoming prominent across his face. "Palos, you know that I have nothing but utmost respect for your work and genius, but in this case you should do everyone a favor. Turn around and leave this matter alone."

Rush stood perplexed in front of the man, unsure what to do or say. Thankfully Syno spoke up almost immediately. "Let us move on Cass. We have a meeting with the council." Rush knew the name; Palos had spent a good amount of time talking about this man. He was one of the foremost opponents to the launch, and had drawn support from the council through fear-mongering. From what Palos said, he was a very unlikable man, an assessment that Rush agreed with from only these few words.

"I'm aware of that, and I'm just trying to save you time. This debate is over, the council has listened to us," Cass sneered as he spoke in his harsh voice. "What makes you believe that after all this time they'll suddenly decide to listen to you?"

He stared at this brutish scientist quietly for a few seconds, trying to size him up, find out if Palos might have missed something about his character. Finally he decided that this man wasn't worth his time or effort; there were far more important tasks to focus on. "I was under the impression that I was going to speak to the council and an audience of mature and curious researchers. Not a spoiled child that's angry he can't have things happen his way."

Cass' face flushed a hot red with anger. He looked as if he were going to reply to the insulting remark when Rush grabbed Syno by the elbow and pulled him in the direction of the council's chamber. His assistant seemed equally as stunned as Cass at Rush's handling of the situation. "What's the matter with you? You can't talk to one of your colleagues like that."

"Yeah, well he'll get over it," Rush said tersely, releasing Syno as they made their way down the rest of the long and lavish hallway. Much like Palos' lab, the rest of the structures were cut into stone. The presence of light sconces and monitors placed throughout the hall were the only items that set this place apart from an ancient Greek temple. Rush could see a large, ornate door at the end of the hallway roughly fifty meters from their current position. He took that to be their destination.

"Is something wrong?" Syno asked with grave concern. "I've never seen you treat someone so… aggressively before." The stunned assistant managed to turn around for a quick glance, prompting Rush to look over his shoulder as well. Cass stood fuming night where Rush had left him. After a brief moment of glaring menacingly at Rush he turned sharply and stormed off into one of the many side passages that lined the main hall.

Rush turned to look forward again, picking up his pace as he did so. "This meeting is too important for me to worry about him. Too much is at stake, and I'm running out of time," Rush responded, making the last part too quiet to be heard. He had spent nearly fifteen hours in Palos' lab waiting for his appointment with the council. Palos had given him a great deal of information to prepare him for the meeting with the council, information that Rush was sure would help him. Beyond that, he was thrilled to have been able to speak with such a respectable Ancient; Cass' attitude admittedly soured Rush's opinion of the Ancients. Regardless, he was aware that he had a limited amount of time here and was anxious after waiting for so long.

After he spoke his assistant stopped in front of him, holding Rush back. "What's going on with you?" Syno asked intently. "You're not acting like yourself. Are you ill? Maybe it's best you don't speak to the council until you feel better."

Sighing impatiently Rush tried to maintain his composure. Having an ally in this place and time could prove to be an invaluable resource; he had no plans to make this mission more difficult than it needed to be. He put on his mildest face and tried to look apologetically to Syno. "Thank you for your concern Syno. I do appreciate it, but it's not needed. I'm feeling fine; it's just this project is important; more important than anyone here seems capable of realizing. They just need to realize that I'm not willing to sit on the side and let them take it away from me. I will fight them for this."

Clearly Syno was still startled by Rush's resolve, but he moved aside and let them continue onward to the council chamber. Rush remembered reading the reports on _Destiny_ about how Palos acted differently; until this moment when he saw the surprised stares from Palos' colleagues he never thought much about what that really entailed. "I'm sorry. Don't doubt me; I won't leave your side. It's just… strange seeing you so passionate about this. You've never been so eloquent."

"Some things require a little extra dedication," Rush said as they continued to walk on. They both continued in silence as they quickly made their way up to the door.

An attendant stood at the side of the door with a data tablet in her hand. She looked from it to Rush and nodded at him. "Council Master Sobin is waiting for you inside, Palos," she said politely after she looked some information on the tablet. "You may go in now." With that she sent a message from her device and palmed the door lock behind her. The large door groaned and slid open, letting them walk into the chamber.

As the door opened Rush looked inside at the incredible room. His first thought after gazing into the room took him back to his days teaching at Berkeley. The door led to a walkway that ended at a large podium. There were two semicircle stone tables at either side of the podium. The one on the left was populated by three Ancients. All of them were clad in dusty colored tunics with somewhat decorative bronze adornments on their shoulders. The one in the center was by far the oldest and had a blank but mild face; this was likely Sobin. He seemed much more reasonable than Cass and it was a relief to see him heading up the council. The two other council members were middle-aged and seemed surprisingly inattentive. Most likely this issue had been debated very often and so they were tired of it. Still, there seemed to be something hostile in the eyes of the woman on the left. As Rush made his way to the central podium he caught a glimpse of her cold eyes dart up from the table to give him a cold glare. Palos had warned that some members of the council were close minded on the issue and supporters of Cass.

What was slightly more captivating were the rows of seats that dominated the chamber, sitting in front of the podium. All of them seemed to be filled with people. "I think this might be your biggest audience yet," Syno said as he walked up to the podium at Rush's side. After he dropped off a tablet as the podium Syno gave Rush a supportive look and retreated to the sidelines of the massive chamber.

The most startling difference Rush noticed about this chamber and a lecture hall at Berkeley was the silence. Everyone was quiet and patiently watching Rush as he prepared himself. Finally after what felt like a long and arduous journey down the aisle, Rush situated himself at the podium, hundreds of eyes watching him.

With that Sobin stirred, activating a microphone system. As he did so, Rush could see a half dozen Kinos begin to fly through the chamber, getting angles on all the council members as well as Rush. "Before we begin with these proceedings," he started in a dry, raspy voice which echoed through the chamber, "we have representatives from the other races that asked to be present and involved in this decision." At that moment a door at the other end of the room opened and a humanoid in a purple-green ragged dress walked into the room. His hair was bushy with a brown tint to it. "The Nox ambassador Pharaes," he announced as the earth–clad man made his way to the semicircular table to the right of Rush.

Next a tall, grey humanoid walked out of the door, lacking any clothing. It looked very human-like; much different than the contemporary appearance of this species, but Rush could still tell what it was from the visual records he had seen. "The Asgard ambassador Odin." This person sauntered in and sat next to Pharaes. They exchanged pleasant greetings as he sat down.

After that the final member of Alliance of the Four Races walked in. "The Furling ambassador Choor'mak." Rush looked at him with silent amazement. Long had members of the SGC been aware of this fourth race, but this was the first time anyone had laid eyes upon them. The name was not quite fitting, was the first impression Rush had. At almost two meters tall, the Furling was not as small and cute as the name suggested. He was however a very furry creature, his fur similar in texture to that of a bear. Rush mentally likened this species to the rumors of the Yeti or Sasquatch. Perhaps just like the Asgard were the inspiration for the Roswell aliens, this species visited Earth before their disappearance and created the myth of Bigfoot. The Furling ambassador walked through the chamber with a long stride and an air of curiosity. Choor'mak's animalistic appearance made it hard to believe he could be a member of an enlightened and advanced civilization. Of course the same could be said of the Nox and Rush was aware of their intellect.

While these three aliens were being seated, Rush's mind was buzzing. He recognized the significance of this moment to furthering knowledge of the Alliance of the Four Races. Of course at the same time Rush maintained a neutral expression so as not to reveal his infiltration. He was also painfully aware of how this might make matters more complicated. While he had learned the prevailing Ancient opinion on the matter from Palos, he didn't know what any of the other races thought. He figured if the Asgard were anything like the contemporary ones that the SGC had dealt with they might be inclined to support a mission of this nature. The Nox would most likely need convincing, but Rush knew nothing about Furling philosophy. So as not to panic he quickly put those thoughts out of his mind; as long as he delivered his message properly he would succeed. He knew that in his heart.

Once all three ambassadors were seated and comfortable the lead councilman spoke again. "Thank you for being here ambassadors. This council has been called from a direct petition on the behalf of researcher Palos to once more discuss the _Destiny_ proposal. The ambassadors, along with myself, Councilwoman Castima," he said gesturing to the woman whom continued to glare at Rush, "and Councilman Tanliz," now pointing to the man on the right, "will listen and cast a final vote on the matter." The audience murmured lightly for a few moments about the topic of the meeting and quickly quieted themselves. "Dr. Palos, we have already heard the opposition earlier this day, so now all of our attention is on you."

Rush hesitated for a moment, still taking in the entirety of this situation. He composed himself and thought hard about every word before he said it. "I thank the council and our esteemed ambassadors for being here today," he said giving a polite nod to both of the semicircular tables. "Hopefully I will not take much time to convince you of the importance of this venture and we can move on to other matters."

"Begging your pardon," Castima interjected with mild annoyance, "but this council did move on. It was through your insistence that this proposal has been reopened." There was a small murmur through the audience that suggested some did support her opinion that this debate was closed.

"Councilwoman," Odin said politely, his voice powerfully booming through the chamber, "we thank you for your opinion, but the Asgard, Nox, and Furlings were never involved in your earlier deliberations. As such we are most interested in listening to this proposal firsthand." He had an emotion within his words that seems to be absent from the videos Rush had seen of the contemporary Asgard. Odin was less mechanical in his speech, indicating that the changes to the Asgard over the millennium were more than just on the surface.

Castima seemed slightly upset that members of the other races were curious about Palos' research, but realized she could not silence the ambassadors. "Of course, my apologies."

"The testimony from your opponent, researcher Cass, was fundamentally founded in the idea that this undertaking would present us here with too much power," Odin continued now uninterrupted. "He likened your goals and ambitions to that of the Ori. Now while my people never dealt with them, we are aware of their actions. How do you respond?"

Taking a deep breath, Rush gathered all his thoughts together. He started out speaking slow and maintaining a deliberately mild attitude. "I would say that accusation is not only inaccurate but also quite offensive. The Ori wanted to gods, to be worshiped and revered. I am not pursuing this knowledge out of vanity or a desire to control."

"Do you speak for those that might stumble upon your research, or use your knowledge?" Choor'mak said, his deep voice resonating through the hall.

Slightly taken aback by the shock of hearing his voice for the first time, Rush froze as he collected himself. "What must be understood, above all else, is the singular purpose behind this endeavor. Someone or something put this structure out in the universe to be found. Its sole reason for existing is to educate those with the will to uncover it; having studied only one small fragment that much is plainly obvious. On the grand scale of existence, we are nothing more than just children. Here we have an opportunity to learn." He looked to the audience, filled with young scholars. "And even with this chance to learn so much, this mission isn't for us. It is a venture that will span millions of years and take its goal into reaches of space far beyond anything any of us has ever considered feasible. And it is only through this culmination of work from across generations and galaxies…" he said powerfully, keeping his voice steady, "that we will learn the destiny of all things."

* * *

><p>Yvsan's shuttle pushed itself out of the atmosphere and back into space. Seven Nati cruisers were sitting very close to the planet in a defense pattern. Yvsan's cruiser was still holding position within the planet's atmosphere. Young looked past the blockade to gaze at <em>Destiny<em>. She was farther away from the planet than Young had remembered; the ship must have drifted from the attack. The cruiser making the repairs was right on top of _Destiny_ but from about three hundred kilometers he couldn't see any details.

"We spent hours in that power complex, and I was still only able to scratch the surface as to its full potential. I could've spent days down there and never gotten bored," Yvsan commented as he glided his shuttle through the ranks of his cruisers. "My original posting when I joined the defense force was engineering. I loved the work, but I was eventually pushed up into a command position."

Young leaned back in his seat, having nothing to do until they could reach _Destiny_. "Unfortunately right now our priorities need to be elsewhere. What's the status of your ships that were attacked?"

The commander was made visibly tense at the subject, but he checked his sensors anyways. "One of the cruisers has reinitialized their primary core. It looks like they've sealed their hull breaches and rerouted power around damaged areas. They should be able to fight, though they should stay clear from the heavy fighting." He continued to read his output and grew slightly downcast. "The two other cruisers sustained heavy damage. We'd need weeks to repair them with the resources we have right now. For the moment they've been towed to a safe distance and the surviving crew has been moved to other ships."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Young said sincerely. "Hopefully… given enough time they can be salvaged."

Yvsan was not as optimistic as Young. "Unfortunately, that won't matter. We're a dying group most likely. With so much of our civilization destroyed, very few are thinking about trying to change our society; they just want to rebuild. They won't pay attention to our message. And… if we can't bring more of our people to join us… well it's only a matter of time before they deal us enough small blows that there will be nothing left."

"I get the feeling that you and your people have too much fight in you to let that happen," Young said. As they were passing the last cruiser in the blockade Young sat up straight and looked carefully at the ship. "Solid ships with solid crews."

"While I appreciate the sentiment…" Yvsan was cut off by a loud bleeping alarm from his console. The lights in the shuttle immediately dimmed and the co-pilot's display changed from sensors to offensive systems. At that moment a cloud of energy popped into existence right beside the blockade and immediately spat a small ship out. The design was Nati, but it was about a fifth the size of a cruiser. It looked like a cylinder that had been squeezed on the top and the bottom which gave it a slightly flattened look, with a short nose that protruded from the front. The engine section was large for a ship that size and made it incredibly fast and maneuverable because the ship sped away quickly.

"What is that?" Young asked as he stiffened and began to pay attention to his control console.

Yvsan mumbled a curse before he pushed the shuttles engines to maximum and pursued the craft. "It's a scout ship; Vesari probably sent it to determine the status of our ships." He activated the communication system on his shuttle and sent a message to all his ships. "This is Commander Yvsan. All ships pursue the enemy at your own discretion." A series of affirmatives flooded his channel before he turned it off.

The scout ship was currently moving off towards _Destiny_ and was moving in an erratic pattern. It almost immediately turned back around and headed back to the planet. Yvsan's shuttle was a direct course for the ship which was about one hundred kilometers away right now and closing very fast.

"Commander…" Young said very worriedly as the two ships came ever closer. His own console gave a short buzz and when he looked down it indicated a target lock. Without waiting he opened fire. Two cannons on either side of the shuttle opened fire, hot bolts of energy making their way to the scout ship. The craft quickly rolled to its port on its axis and continued on its way. The ship missed the shuttle only by a dozen meters which made Young's heart race as he watched the ship quickly disappear from sight.

"Hold on," Yvsan warned. He expertly piloted the ship into a sharp turn to starboard. Young felt the strain only a little bit, speaking volumes of the inertial dampeners on this shuttle. Within a few seconds, they were on the tail of the scout ship which was heading right for the blockade.

Two cruisers fired a couple of volleys at the scout ship, but they all were fruitless as the ship rapidly dodged each shot. Then, it made a sharp turn to port and jumped into hyperspace as quickly as it had arrived.

Yvsan let out a long, harsh breathe. He brought the shuttle down from tactical alert and brought her back to bear on _Destiny_.

Young sat uncomfortably, waiting for his heart rate to come back down to normal. "I take it that is bad news," he finally managed to say.

"Very bad," Yvsan said. "We should get to _Destiny_ quickly. I don't think we have much time." As they approached _Destiny_, Young could begin to make out the dozens of robotic arms that had extended out from the Nati cruiser. They were dancing along the battered hull of the ship and were welding new plates of metal to seal breaches and fixing ruptured conduits and weapon stations. Interestingly enough, all of the new equipment blended perfectly with the textures and patterns of the surrounding hull, making it impossible to tell what was new and what was old. Young looked on the ship as Yvsan brought the shuttle in to dock.

* * *

><p>"Give an update on the repairs," Young said as he walked into the Control Interface Room. As was now his habit, Yvsan followed closely behind Young. Eli was sitting at the main console with Park at another one on the other side of the room. They both looked up at Young and Yvsan without beating an eye at seeing the Nati commander. Judging by the several Nati engineers Young had seen on their way here, the crew had probably adjusted to seeing Nati on <em>Destiny<em>. Inwardly that pleased the Colonel.

"Better than I had hoped," Eli confessed. He stopped what he was working on and brought up a holographic display of _Destiny_. "That cruiser has been working non-stop to seal hull breaches. They even got some of the old breaches that we've had since before we got onboard."

"And most of the power transfer systems along the hull have been repaired," Park added from her station. "Even if we had all the raw materials, it would've taken us weeks to do this with space suits and robots."

"Yeah, I'm really happy not to have to crawl into a suit for a while," Eli commented. "Anyways, most of the weapon platforms are repaired, and shield generators have been fixed. We had to replace many parts to get those systems fixed, but the Nati cannibalized the systems from the damaged cruisers which gave us plenty of equipment."

"How are the engines?"

Eli shrugged the question off as non-important. "Since Vesari was in front of us we didn't take much engine damage. The few damaged power conduits were repaired quickly. Power however, was the main issue. We don't have the time to go refuel in the star; repairs are too important. So Park and I worked with the Nati engineers and found a way to make our power sources compatible. We got that working about an hour ago. It's slower than refueling with solar collectors, but we've got the reserves up to seventy-nine percent right now."

Young walked up to Eli's terminal and stared approvingly at the display; the amount of red was significantly decreased from when he had left fifteen hours ago. "This is good progress; really good." He turned to Yvsan. "Thank you the help you've given us."

"We really do appreciate it," Park chirped. "The amount of manpower you provided made a huge difference."

Yvsan bowed his head slightly in return. "Believe me when I say we were happy to help."

The Colonel looked around the room now that the report was done. "Where are Brody and Volker?"

"They're supervising the Nati engineering team with their repairs on the bridge," Eli said. "It's been about twelve hours since they started so I imagine some progress has been made. For now we're coordinating everything through here."

"Good. Eli, would you say that we're battle-ready?" Young asked pointedly.

At that question to young scientist groaned and shoved his face into his console. It was a moment before he looked back up. "If by that you mean: is this ship at a condition in which it can put up a fight only to have everything we just fixed get broken again then yeah… we're battle-ready. That being said, I would really love not to get in a fight right now."

"So would I Eli, but I don't know if we're being given a choice," Young said, stepping aside to give Yvsan a chance to speak.

Accepting the attention, Yvsan walked up to Eli's station. "May I?" he asked. Eli furrowed his brow but stepped aside without an argument. Yvsan took the seat and looked to the console, very quickly adjusting to the controls. He changed the hologram to display sensor records of the scout ship. It pointed out several key features, including its large engine assembly and the many dishes and radio towers along the hull. "It is a typical strategy to send in this ship before an attack to scout out the enemy's power and fortifications. The ship has virtually no offensive capability; the design instead focuses on incredibly precise sensors capable of scanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and overpowered engines to allow it to enter and exit quickly."

"It's not exactly subtle," Eli pointed out, leaning against the core.

Nodding in agreement, Yvsan focused the display on the power core of the ship. "That is quite true. In most cases, this vessel would operate in a stealth mode. If you'll note the power emissions on this ship; they register at one/fortieth of what you would expect from a ship this size. If this ship had exited hyperspace where our sensors could not reach, say beyond one of this planet's moons or another nearby planet, we would not know of its presence. It would take longer to scan us effectively though."

"They did this on purpose, to intimidate us," Young interjected.

"Precisely; in this situation we are aware of the incoming attack. The stealth would only be employed in the case of a surprise attack," Yvsan elaborated, now turning off the display. "In this case, they wanted to remind us that they can attack whenever they choose; fear was as important a goal as was information gathering."

Young paced around the core for a moment, listening to the calming hum of _Destiny_'s engines. It sounded healthier to him than when he left. Like the ship had been complaining earlier and now that it had been repaired was no longer in pain. He shook the thought off and went back to the conversation. "How long do we have until they attack?"

Yvsan took a moment to ponder, staring at the core and all the various components on it. He turned to Young with an uncertain shrug. "Most likely they will launch soon after the scout ship returns with the information."

"Based on the time it took the capital ship to reach its current position," Eli said, "the trip to meet with their friends should take about twenty minutes. So that's forty minutes minimum until we see them and maybe more if they wait for more ships."

"Can we see how many ships are already there?" Young asked Eli.

He walked to another station and activated the controls for the holographic display. After a second he accessed the communication systems and looked for the Nati ships. The display showed _Destiny_ and the insurgent ships all represented as blue dots. Then it zoomed out and swung to a point two light years from the blue dots. At that location there was a cluster of red dots, with a few more on the way. "Oh boy… I'm counting ten ships already there, and about five more on the way. Based on the distance of the farthest out ship, and assuming they'll wait for them," Eli said, pausing to do some quick mental arithmetic, "we have about four hours before they launch. Regardless, we'll have a twenty warning after they launch."

"I suppose we'll have to make that work. I'd like to be able to reconvene later and get a plan of attack. Yvsan, since you are the expert on their capabilities it would be helpful if you could present some ideas." Young said, getting an immediate nod from the commander. "I'm going to go check on TJ, see how everyone's doing."

Eli spoke up before Young could move. "You'll want to go look for her in the port side cargo bay. The Nati brought over some big medical equipment and left it there; it helped to reduce the crowding in the infirmary."

The Colonel nodded in response as he turned to leave, but stopped at the mouth of the corridor. "I imagine following me is going to get very bored," he said to Yvsan.

"If you don't mind Colonel," Yvsan said rising from his console, "I'd like to go talk to my people aboard your ship; inform them of the situation."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Eli, would you show him around?" Young asked.

"I'm a bit busy here," he apologized, bringing back up the work he was doing before Young arrived. "All the damaged weapon platforms need to be recalibrated. Ginn is helping out," he said looking to the empty air to his right, "but it's still taking a while."

Yvsan looked to the Colonel. "It's alright, I'll just walk back the way we came; I saw some of my crew there. I can manage on my own."

In all honesty, Young was somewhat tired of watching over this one man, so getting a chance to let him go on his own was somewhat tempting, but didn't seem like a great idea. "I wouldn't want you getting turned around. Park, show him to one of our repair teams and let them guide him after that."

Park lightly nodded and rose from her chair. She walked up to Yvsan and pointed down the hallway. "This way." She walked down with him by her side.

As they turned at the end of the hall Young let out a long sigh and started to walk down to the cargo hold. "Long day, huh?" Eli called out from his station.

"No kidding," he said as he walked out of the Control Interface Room.

* * *

><p>Two Airmen stood in the hallway outside the cargo hold. One had a sling holding his left arm up and the other had a bandage wrapped around his lower right leg. Small dabs of blood could be seen as they soaked through the bandage, but neither of them seemed to be in immediate pain. Young surmised they had been taken care of and had left the room to keep from crowding. They both saluted as he passed; he returned the gesture and walked into the infirmary.<p>

Several large pieces of medical technology cluttered the room, all with beds attached to them. To Young's satisfaction, most of them were empty. There were only a few patients in the room and two Nati doctors helping out. He saw TJ standing by one of the empty beds, looking over the various components.

TJ didn't notice him until he was standing right next to her at the machine. She looked much more uplifted than she had before he left. "How is everyone?" he asked.

"Not bad; no more fatalities at least," she said with a grin. "I guess I shouldn't ask for more than that."

"Did Scott come back aboard?" he asked.

"Yeah, a shuttle brought him about seven hours ago," she said nodding. "I checked him out just to make sure everything was alright; he seemed to be pretty good for a man with a head injury. I think he went to his quarters to sleep off the sedatives they gave him."

Young was satisfied by her answers and was uplifted by her attitude. "What is all this stuff?" he asked, turned to look at the different medical stations.

She turned with him and looked around the room as well. "Some… really amazing technology; this scanning technology works on the same basic principles as _Destiny_'s equipment, only it's quite a bit more advanced. They've done everything though; I don't know how to operate any of this stuff," she said pointing to the two doctors standing over Dr. Inman. It looked like she might have a broken arm which the doctors were quickly healing with their technology. TJ stood looking somewhat useless next to Young. "I have to admit, they really helped out. I'd still be patching up cuts and setting bones right now; instead pretty much everyone has been taken care of."

He had hoped to not have to force this question, but there was really no delicate way to bring up the subject. "How's Kalin?" he asked since he had not seen the man at all.

"He's stable; for the moment," she said, trying to interpret the information being displayed on the nearest device's monitors. "They've got impressive technology that can help burn victims, but it's not portable unfortunately. So they moved him over to their ship to administer the treatment." As she said that, Young could see her lose her confidence slightly; she didn't like being removed from her patient. It passed quickly. "I'd love it if we could keep this stuff." She chuckled as she took a few steps away from the bed and continued to look around the room.

"I'll make sure to ask before we leave," Young said tiredly, walking around the room with her. "How are you holding up?" he asked, realizing that he had not given her any chance to express her feelings.

"A lot better than I usually am after a big fight like that," she admitted. Stopping in the center of the room, she glanced back at the doctors who were discharging Inman. "I'm still processing the fact that we have someone here to help us. It's weird, you know?"

Young sighed and ran his hand through his hair, slightly distraught. "When did we become like this?" he asked suddenly, catching TJ off guard. "We don't trust anyone; we have to worry about every trip through the 'Gate. Hell, every time we drop from F.T.L. I just have to hope there isn't a new threat to this ship and crew. And now that we get someone here helping us…" he drifted off.

"… It's hard to believe that we might have friends all the way out here," she finished, "especially after everything we've been through."

He remained motionless for a long moment. Overall he felt relieved that he had finally managed to say what had been bothering him this whole day. Finally he lifted his head and looked to TJ who was giving him a very supportive look. "I think I'll head to my quarters. This has just been a ridiculous day and even ten minutes in bed would be a good thing."

"We'll do fine, Colonel," she reassured him as he started to leave. "I know we will."

* * *

><p>With the bulbous Nati cruiser sitting atop of <em>Destiny<em> there wasn't too much of a sight from the Observation Deck. Regardless, there was still a good amount of _Destiny_ itself that remained visible, and that was enough to captivate Yvsan for a good long time. He was alone in the room at the moment, since the crew of _Destiny_ was busy finishing repairs and there was no one to escort him. All of the textures and features that lined the hull of the ship were enough to keep him preoccupied.

After what must've been ten minutes alone just leaning against the railing, he heard footsteps walk into the room and stop. He turned around to see Wray standing by the door, her translator glowing dimly on her forehead.

"This is probably the best condition _Destiny_ has been in for quite a while; thanks to your repairs. You're also the first to get a chance to admire it," she said quietly, taking a moment before walking up and joining him at the railing.

Yvsan looked at her before turning his gaze back to the ship. "You must be Camille Wray," he said, returning his attention to her. "During your… detention on our home world, Tarym created detailed files on the captured members of _Destiny_. I managed to access a copy of your files before my fleet left," he added somewhat sheepishly.

She gave him a quiet 'ah' of understanding, uncomfortably recalling the event. "That was a… a regrettable day. If Tarym hadn't overreacted to our true origins, none of this fighting would have happened. Our two people could have been really good friends I think."

"I would have liked that, perhaps more than you can imagine," Yvsan confessed, leaning on the railing and gazing pensively to the stars. "While my people did manage a vast empire, we didn't have… friends as you would say. Any race we deemed a threat to the Lords we conquered and expelled from our space. Those left behind were left destitute and thrown into forced labor. I can't say that I'm proud of who we were."

"From what I can see, you are a good person. You've tried to change things; right the wrongs," Wray said, looking earnestly at him. "In my book, that's something to be proud of."

He showed a small smile before turning back to look at Wray. "Thank you."

A second later the radio at her belt came to life. "This is Eli in the Control Interface Room. I think everyone should get back down here."

Wray grabbed the radio and tapped it. "I'm on my way with Yvsan," she said, returning the radio to her belt. "We shouldn't keep them waiting."

Yvsan nodded and pulled himself away from the captivating vista offered on the observation deck. A dull rumble echoed through the ship as the cruiser detached the repair arms from _Destiny_'s hull and began to move off. As it veered away from _Destiny_, it let the bright light from the star to shine across the bow of the ship. The radiant light bounced off the hull and its newly installed panels. It was a wonderful sight, the red-orange light pouring into the observation deck and illuminated the bow of the massive ship. "It is remarkable."

She gave him agreeing nod and led him out of the room.

* * *

><p>"Talk to me Eli," Young said as he ran into the Control Interface Room, Wray and Yvsan walking in from the other side of the room. They all gathered around the core, watching Eli at the console.<p>

He took a second before answering, taking that time to activate the holo-display. It showed the mass of red dots representing the Nati fleet, and a small group of red dots moving away from it. "I'm reading four Nati ships that have broken ranks; they're on their way here right now."

Young looked to Yvsan. "Do you have any idea why they would do that?"

The Nati commander shook his head. "It's not a typical strategy that I am familiar with. Nati warships regularly use superior numbers to defeat their enemies. Splitting up like this is very strange."

"Maybe they don't want to throw all their forces at as in one shot," Wray suggested. "They could try to attack in waves, each successive wave damaging us a bit only to have a fresh wave hit us again."

Yvsan sighed in uncertainty. "It's a possibility, but not one I would think likely."

"I'm gonna agree with Mr. Alien Commander," Eli said, pointing at the display. The rest of the red dots started to move along the same vector as the four other dots. "They sure didn't wait long to launch a second wave; this doesn't make any sense." Yvsan nodded in agreement, though frowned at Eli's title for him.

"Regardless, it looks like we've just run out of time," Young announced, stepping up to the holo-display. "What's the status of _Destiny_ and the task force?"

Eli quickly tapped away and shifted the focus of the display to _Destiny_. "We're actually doing surprisingly well considering we are mostly patched up with spares. For something that took less than twenty hours, I don't think I could ask for more. Score one for having friends," he said with a small grin in Yvsan's direction. "The rest of the Nati task force is in good condition; but those two crippled ships are beyond repair."

"Eleven to fifteen," Young lamented, pacing across a small space in front of the display. "Those aren't the best odds. At least your soldiers are planet-side. That should help protect our team down there."

"Don't forget that Vesari will still be commanding his flagship in the battle," Yvsan reminded. "It would require all of our effort to disable his vessel. Worrying about fourteen escorts in addition to that will make this an even more difficult engagement. I fear this is a hopeless situation for us."

"Tell me that you have some ideas, or at least some tactical knowledge that can be of use," Young asked, trying not to sound desperate.

Yvsan shuffled uncomfortably for a moment looking from Young to the display. "Forgive me, but just a short time ago that information was a closely guarded secret." He took a sharp breath and looked to Young. "I'll contact my ship and have my tactical officer transmit all available information we have on the design of the flagship. Also we may have some spies within Vesari's crew. I'll try to communicate with them."

"Thank you," Young said earnestly. "I understand that must have been a difficult decision."

He nodded in return. "Difficult yes, but at least this time it is for a noble purpose. Maybe it can atone for the difficult orders in the past I chose to follow." Yvsan paused as he reflected on his part before his focus returned. "I should go communicate with my ship. If you'll excuse me." He gave a short, formal bow and began to walk out of the Contract Interface Room. The Commander activated the communicator on his wrist and spoke to his crew, his voice disappearing down the corridor.

"Eli," Young started, "I want you to look that data over with Yvsan when it gets here. Find anything that might be able to give us an edge."

"Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes opened for any exposed thermal exhaust ports conveniently placed at the end of one of their trenches," Eli said grinning.

Young wanted to tell him to be more serious, but he understood that it was just a coping mechanism. "Is the bridge accessible?"

"Yeah, the last repair crew left _Destiny_ about ten minutes ago. Brody and Volker should be up there running system checks," Eli said.

Acknowledging the info the Colonel turned to leave the room. "I'll go make a quick round to check on the crew. I want everyone at their stations before that fleet arrives. We've got a short window to prepare and make sure we're ready for this fight. Let's make the most of it."

* * *

><p>Walking down the hall to the bridge Young was impressed to observe no damage. The conduit that had ruptured a bulkhead outside was completely repaired and the bulkhead had been replaced as well. He had seen similar repairs across the ship, and in each case if he hadn't seen the damage firsthand he wouldn't have known how badly hurt this ship had been. The Colonel tapped the keypad to open the bridge, waiting a moment as the doors slid open. Inside Brody and Volker were moving from station to station checking all the systems. Just like in the hallway all the physical damage had been perfectly repaired.<p>

At this point neither of the scientists had taken notice of him. Volker was standing at the right station while Brody was working the console at the commander's chair. "Weapon platform three is misaligned; targeting sensors are off by two point six three degrees," Volker noted.

"Compensating," Brody said as he began to tap away at the console on the armrest of the command chain. "Cheek the midship-portside shield generator. Field attenuation has been fluctuating."

"On it," Volker responded, turning to acknowledge Brody. He paused when he saw Young. "Colonel, I didn't see you come in."

"I just got here," Young said walking down the stairs. "This place looks a lot better than I remember," he commented.

Brody nodded in agreement, quickly rising from the command chair. "The Nati engineering teams did a real good job putting everything back together."

"I think they even gave us a fresh coat of paint," Volker said with a grin, noting the incredible sheen the room had to it.

Young walked up to his chair and promptly sat down. "Apparently they screwed up one or two things."

"Just a few maintenance and calibration issues," Brody reassured sitting himself at the center station. "Our offensive and defensive systems are mostly operational, we're just weeding out the gremlins. Don't worry Colonel, she'll hold together."

"Glad to hear it, because we should be having company soon," Young said grimly. "I'd hate it if we gave them a sub par performance."

"We'd have finished all of this already if we weren't so shorthanded," Volker complained as he realigned the targeting sensors. "Rush and Kalin would've been really helpful." He paused after he spoke and lightly rubbed the console which had been replaced from the explosion. "How is he?"

"He'll live," Young answered without thought. He hoped for the best and didn't need his crew getting distracted right now.

"Good, and I'm glad we got Lieutenant Scott back from the planet; no one can fly this ship like him," Brody said as he continued to work. "I just wish we had Greer to man the weapons."

As if on cue footsteps were heard walking onto the bridge followed by aloud yawn. Young turned to see a well-rested Scott walk down the stairs and to his post. Apparently healed up enough he now had a translator stuck to his forehead. "Sorry I'm late sir; those drugs they gave me knocked me out like a light. I think I might ask TJ to get her hands on a bottle or two for the occasional sleepless night."

"Amen to that," Volker mumbled.

"How are you feeling lieutenant?" Young asked as Scott sat down and began checking the helm systems.

"Just fine sir, though I can't wait for this day to be over," he replied enthusiastically. By his manner Young couldn't believe that this man had a concussion only a half-day ago.

Young was going to continue talking when he heard running in the hall. Turning around again he saw Eli burst into the bridge panting. Yvsan was right behind him completely untroubled by his running. "They're almost here," he warned urgently as he took his post at the science station.

The room went silent for a few seconds from the announcement. Young took a look around the bridge. He looked at each crew member for a moment, having an extra pause as he looked at what was Kalin's station. Finally he ended on Yvsan, the ally out of nowhere. "Commander, I'd appreciate it if you would take the communication station and coordinate our offensive with your task force."

"Of course," he answered quickly moving to the console. Yvsan took a moment to look at the laptop and frowned at it. He ignored it and focused on the Ancient terminal.

"Did you manage to find any useful tactical information?" Young asked.

"Nothing that will give us a huge advantage," Eli noted in a downcast manner. "There were a couple of structural weak points and some areas of the ship that might create secondary explosions. I've uploaded all we could find to the targeting matrix."

Volker quickly tapped at his console. "I see it here. All weapon platforms are active and powering up; deploying the main weapon."

"Shields are at eighty-six percent strength," Brody said. "All the emitters are functional but our reserves are a bit low."

"We'll just have to make do with what we have," Young reasoned.

"Sublight engines and thrusters are online," Scott said.

"I am in direct contact with my officers aboard the _Rotundi. _They will convey my orders to the fleet. All of my ships report ready for battle, Colonel Young," Yvsan reported from the rear. "They will follow your lead."

Everyone was staring at the center of the room, right at Young. The hiss of steam and the calm, healthy hum of the ship were the only sounds for a few seconds. Young finally spoke. "You've all performed remarkably this day, just as I've come to expect from you. I want you to know that I am honored to have each and every one of you under my command. And I am grateful to our allies; we wouldn't be here without them." He gave a nod in Yvsan's direction who reciprocated the gesture. "Now, let's tell these bastards one last time to leave us alone. Lieutenant, bring us closer to the task force; we're going to win this fight by standing together."

"Yes sir," Scott answered, operating the controls expertly. The ship rumbled slightly as the powerful engines began to propel the ship forward. "Engines at full power; we'll be alongside the task force in twenty seconds." As _Destiny_ accelerated through space the planet slowly grew in size in the forward viewpoints. The rich green landmasses became more prominent, beautifully juxtaposed to the light blue oceans. Nine shapes in orbit could easily be seen as they reflected the light from the star. Very quickly they morphed into giant Nati warships standing guard above the Ancient complex on the surface. Destiny slowed down and put herself near the other ships, coming to full stop.

A quick trio of beeps sounded at Eli's terminal. "Subspace distortions one hundred twenty kilometers to port. I'm reading four hyperspace windows forming."

"That's too far out for a reliable targeting lock," Volker noted as Scott turned the ship to face the distortions.

"We'll just let them come to us then," Young replied. "Tell you ships to hold their fire until I give the order," he said to Yvsan. The Commander quickly relayed the message.

There was another alarming sound from the science station. "Here they come."

Now everyone's attention was focused outside, at the four pinpricks of bright white light. They each flashed powerfully and quickly vanished leaving four warships within a couple hundred kilometers from the task force.

"Prepare to open fire on the closest ship as soon as they enter weapons range," Young started as everyone began to work quickly at their posts.

"Colonel Young, I am receiving a short transmission from the lead vessel," Yvsan said, taking a moment to read the text. Upon reading it his eyes widened and he began to smile slightly. His continued silence aggravated Young.

"What is it Commander?" Young asked, turning to look at Yvsan.

"They are insurgent-controlled ships," he announced gleefully. "I knew we had some intelligence operatives within their fleet, but I had no idea we had so many sympathizers."

Scott spun around in his chair at the news. "Sir, with all due respect, this sounds like a trap to me."

"They transmitted the message on a frequency that only the insurgents use, and they supplied a proper authentication code from six of our operatives," Yvsan returned defensively. "I assure you that this is not a trap." Another beep came from the communication terminal. Yvsan looked down and read the new message. "They are offering to maintain their current position and flank the enemy fleet."

Young took a deep breath and looked at the Commander's confident expression. He turned back to face the front of the bridge. "I guess we'll find out for sure whose side they're on soon enough."

"Yes sir," Scott said immediately turning back to his post.

"The rest of the fleet is coming through now, only twenty-five kilometers off our bow!" Eli shouted from his station over a dozen alarms.

In the space between the task force and the four newcomers a flurry of clouds began to form. About ten flashes appeared, depositing ten Nati warships very close to the task force. A second later a massive cloud of energy burst to life, and Vesari's massive capital ship emerged, dwarfing the rest of his fleet. Eli audibly groaned as he looked at the behemoth.

The Colonel snapped to action immediately. "Get a lock on the nearest warship Mr. Volker. The less escorts that capital ship has the better. Commander, prepare to coordinate our attacks with your ships."

Yvsan acknowledged the order and only had a second before his station beeped. "Colonel Young, the _Vindictio_ is signaling us."

"He's a surprisingly talkative admiral," Eli said.

Young thought for a moment, watching the menacing fleet sit out in front of _Destiny_. "The longer we can keep them talking, the more time Rush has. Patch them through Commander," he ordered.

Quickly figuring out the controls, Yvsan deployed the Kino and the monitors. The floating camera took its standard position as the monitors changed from status reports to the grim figure of Admiral Vesari.

"Colonel Young, I see you are not as beaten as I left you," he said with disappointment.

"Admiral Vesari, I see you needed to run and get help to fight us," Young retorted, playing the same game. Judging by the Admiral's reddened face, he had hit a nerve. "Is there something we can help you with?"

He took a moment to compose himself before speaking again. "Someone wishes to speak to you… and these traitors," he said with repugnance at Yvsan.

Taking a step to the side he let another man walk into frame. Young jumped out of his chair immediately as he saw the middle-aged man appear on the screen sporting a smug countenance. "Tarym," he spat out in surprise.

The Nati leader grinned widely, enjoying the shock in his enemy's face. "Colonel Young, I had hoped we'd seen the last of each other."

Young collected his emotions and slowly sat back down into his chair. "I was under the impression that no one would be seeing any more of you, after we destroyed your hunter ship."

Tarym scoffed as he continued to revel in Young's surprise. "My saving grace in that encounter was also my mistake. I chose to command from a distance, holding the crew of that ship in high esteem. The officers aboard that ship were incompetent and failed me. This time I will directly lead the attack and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Listen, we're not looking for a fight," Young said attempting a diplomatic approach he knew Wray would appreciate. "We just need to recover a few crew members from the planet and we'll be on our way. There's no need for more bloodshed."

At that Tarym's smile widened. "Fortunately, there is. These insurgents have brought our people to civil war in an already trying time. And you made the fortuitous decision of allying yourself with them, making you a more dangerous enemy than ever." He paused for a brief moment letting his threat settle. "Of course I am not unreasonable. I understand that this cause of rebellion appeals to the young and brash, which is why I wish to propose an arrangement."

"I can only imagine what that 'arrangement' will entail," Yvsan said sarcastically walking up to the side of the command chair.

With a sour look at the Commander, Tarym continued. "If you surrender yourselves and your illegally confiscated vessels, I will spare all of your lives. The command officers of each vessel will be tried for treason and desertion in the battlefield. _Destiny's_ crew will be sent to a penal colony for life. The remainder of your personnel will serve five years hard labor and rehabilitation after which they will be returned to service in the Defense Force. The alternative is certain death." He spoke with a calm demeanor as he delivered his harsh terms.

Yvsan chuckled at the screen incredulously. "Maybe you don't fully understand our position here. We don't want to do anything to help you rebuild _your _way of life. We don't want to give you more ships or labor to rebuild your fleets. We would all rather die than serve you," he spat at the screen.

"I had hoped you would say something like that," Tarym said with a malevolent grin. The connection immediately terminated.

A flurry of alarms went off across the bridge as the Kino dropped back into the floor and the monitors began to display tactical data. Yvsan quickly moved back to his post.

"Enemy ships are moving Colonel, looks like they're getting into some formation," Brody announced, the display above his head revealing the same information.

"Diamond formation; it's a standard tactic," Yvsan informed from the rear. The designation was simple and fitting. Every ship in enemy fleet had turned so their port faced _Destiny_ and the surrounding task force and their starboard weapons were focused on the four flanking ships. The _Vindictio _took up the center of the formation, her massive features dominating the space behind her. Two warships positioned themselves in a line off of her bow, and two more did the same off her stern. There was a warship both above and below her, and the four remaining ships took positions in the diagonal gaps. The formation indeed took the shape of a diamond, with the most of the firepower focused on the plane of the solar system. It allowed each ship a wide firing arc without having another shin getting in the way. While simple, it looked quite formidable.

"They're powering up weapons," Brody warned.

"My ships have taken up a battle position. They are awaiting orders," the Commander said.

"Have your ships fire in conjunction with Destiny; maybe our combined fire can overwhelm one of the cruisers' shields before they can react," Young ordered. "Tell the flanking ships to close and pick targets of opportunity."

He waited a moment as the message was being sent. "All ships are ready."

Young took a quick breath and gazed at the enemy formation. The ships sat still in space, pinpricks of light indicating their weapons were close to discharging. For a moment, Young saw the fleet as old wooden sailboats on a vast black sea. They poised their lateral cannons, ready to bring carnage to their adversaries. It felt almost peaceful right now, in the last breath before battle. Young wished he could hold that breath and keep the battle away, but there was no avoiding the exhale. He selected a target on his armrest console, the warship to the aft of the _Vindictio_. "Mr. Volker, fire the main weapon."

As soon as the command was given, a series of orange energy bolts flew out from _Destiny's_ underside and quickly burned across space to their target. Before they had traveled half the distance a massive blue hue filled the bridge. A hundred powerful blue pulses filled the viewports as the task force opened fire. The targeted warship did not move out of dangers way, possibly because the formation did not allow for individual flexibility by a commanding officer.

The weapons from _Destiny_ hit the ship first, the brunt of the attack being focused in the aft-engineering quarter. Her shields flared to life but no serious damage was noticeable. Before the shields could fade away the massive insurgent barrage slammed into the ship. The first two dozen impacts strained the shields to capacity. Then another to dozen bolts hit and the shields flickered and died. Vulnerable, the ship's commander finally launched a retaliatory strike. A few pulses lashed out to an insurgent cruiser, but it was a fruitless effort.

Without shields, the remaining energy bolts ripped into the ship, tearing her apart. Massive explosions registered across all section of the ship and she began to shift back out of formation. The last few shots struck her badly exposed engineering section and dealt the fatal blow. Her core exploded, shredding the ship into half a dozen large chunks and a million tiny ones. The largest segment was from the bow and the force from the explosion sent it hurtling at the _Vindictio._ It slammed into the massive ship setting her shield aglow as the debris bounced off.

"That's a confirmed kill," Brody said reading his terminal closely. "They're returning fire!"

The enemy fleet discharged their weapons, releasing a similar amount of firepower as the insurgents had. Space was strewn with blue bolts of energy, only the enemy seemed less coordinated. Every insurgent ship was targeted, each vessel taking similar damage. A handful of shots struck _Destiny's_ bow, the shields faintly glowing in response.

"No damage reported," Eli informed. "Shields holding."

"Volker, begin firing on this target," Young ordered, this time selecting the ship directly in front of the capital ship. "Commander, tell your ships they are free to use their own discretion in selecting targets, but I want them to operate in pairs for greater firepower."

"Understood Colonel," he responded. As he delivered the order to his ships he referred to strange sounding battle formations.

"Incoming fire from the capital ship!" Brody yelled, gripping his stator tightly. A dozen large energy shots splashed across the hull, this time dealing heavy punishment to the shields. The deck shook slightly from the heavy impact. "Shields at seventy-one percent, minor damage to the mid-ship sensor array."

"Two friendlies have taken heavy fire," Eli said from his post, making sense of the jumble of sensor data. "Shields are weakened but holding for the moment."

Another volley of weapons fire hit _Destiny_ without much effect. In return dozens of orange bolts went flying from the many turrets located all over _Destiny's_ hull, all smashing into one cruiser.

It was in that moment of relative calm that Yvsan approached Young. "Colonel Young, may I make a suggestion?"

Young was admittedly open to ideas. "What do you have in mind?"

"So far, we've been fighting just like Nati warships would," he said quickly, not taking the momentary lull for granted, "each fleet lined up trading blow after blow. But _Destiny_ is not a Nati ship, so there is no reason we should limit her in this fight."

The floor shook as a volley struck close to the bridge. Yvsan stood his ground looking firmly at Young. He thought for a moment and nodded. "It just might give us a small advantage to fight them differently. Good idea." With a satisfactory smile the Commander made his way back to his station. The Colonel rose from his seat and walked up to Scott, gazing at his terminal from over his shoulder. "Lieutenant, prepare a flight plan that will take us under the diamond and then up and over in a loop. I want you to keep our top to the enemy. Come as close to them as you can."

"Yes sir," Scott answered enthusiastically, calculating the path at once.

Satisfied with one part of the plan, Young moved to Volker. He held onto Brody's chair for support as another barrage slammed into the ship sending a few sparks flying overhead. "Mr. Volker I want to hit them close and hard with all the dorsal cannons. Target the bottom ship when we go under, then the capital ship when we go up, and the top when we go over. I want all platforms at full power; take it from the shields if you have to."

"Understood," the scientist responded somewhat shakily. He was horribly out of his league for an intense military operation.

Returning to the command chair he checked the displays to make sure everyone was ready. He turned to Yvsan once more. "Make sure your ships watch their fire when we close on the fleet. Have them focus fire on the ships we hit." The Commander acknowledged the order and Young turned to face the viewports. "Do it."

"Going to one-half sublight," Scott said. The ship rumbled lightly as it accelerated forward and began to pitch down. The upper half of the diamond was out of sight, as was much of the fighting. The bottom warship quickly grew in size until it was the only vessel that could be seen floating above _Destiny's_ bow.

"Fire!" Young shouted. Every turret with a good dorsal arc opened fire as _Destiny_ quickly passed underneath the stationary and surprised cruiser. Dozens of bolts left the barrels of the turrets and almost immediately slammed into the cruiser. Her shields flared brightly as she was struck all over her hull and was then subjected to increased fire from the task force. The cruiser managed to fire a barrage at _Destiny_, but she moved so fast only a few glancing blows hit their mark.

From her vertical orientation, with respect to the rest of the battle field, _Destiny _was looking at the bottom of the _Vindictio _as she unleashed a powerful barrage at the task force. With incredible speed she passed across the starboard side of the capital ship and unleashed a brutal assault which didn't seem to strain the shields at all. In a proper retaliatory manner, the _Vindictio _fired her starboard turrets right as _Destiny_ passed over them. Having only a split second to make the shot, most of them missed. Still, a handful smashed into _Destiny_, rocking the ship and sending sparks flying from a circuit in the ceiling.

Now past the worst, _Destiny_ calmly sailed over the top cruiser, firing and heavily draining her shields before drifting back to the planet and the task force upside down relative to the plane of battle. "Report," Young ordered as he gazed at the nine ships in the task force, three of which had visible hull damage.

"Shields are holding at sixty-three percent," Brody said. "Mid-ship emitters took the worst of the punch. I'm diverting power to compensate."

"Two weapon platforms overheated from the rapid fire," Volker lamented, unhappily gazing at the red indicators on his console. "We took some light damage, but I'd say we're doing pretty well." Again the deck shook from a hit and the same circuit sent a shower of sparks into the room, quelling Volker's optimism.

"Three of my ships have minimal shields," Yvsan noted calmly from his station, his professional attitude keeping his emotions subdued. "They have suffered moderate to heavy damage. I do not believe they will not last much longer under the current situation."

Young sighed dejectedly and turned to Eli. "Tell me we hurt them."

"Oh yeah," he said joyfully. "We knocked a hole in the shields of both cruisers. Barrages from our guys finished them off."

"What about the capital ship?" Young asked, fearing the answer.

Eli checked the sensors, his downcast expression answer enough for Young. "Their shields look like they're being strained, but are still holding steady."

"That ship has to be our priority. Mr. Volker if you have a shot I want you to take it," Young said, verbalizing his thoughts. "Lieutenant, get us back in line with the task force."

Scott acknowledged the order and pulled the ship up, returning _Destiny_ to the same plane and orientation as the rest of the fleet. Vesari's diamond was crumbling one piece at a time, but the center was holding on strong, refusing to break.

Alarms sounded from several stations. Eli spoke up quickly. "The enemy fleet is launching fighters and troop transports." He stared at the telemetry in awe. "My God, I'm reading over two hundred fighters and fifty troop transports."

Staring out of the viewport, Young wished he could say that Eli was exaggerating. The surviving cruisers each launched a couple dozen fighters followed by the bulkier transports. The capital ship in turn launched a swarm of innumerable fighters. "Transports are heading to the planet," Brody warned. Indeed, the small, fat craft immediately turned to the planet. They formed a staggered line that for some reason looked like ants as they moved with the planet behind them. As they tried to descend into the atmosphere at a point some beyond the task force, the swarm of fighters flew into the midst of the group and began firing at all the ships. _Destiny's_ shields flared as dozens of fighters narrowed in on her.

"Do what you can to take out those transports!" Young shouted as a circuit exploded on the side wall. A few shots lashed from _Destiny_ and impacted a transport, damaging its hull enough that it turned into a fireball in the atmosphere and blew up. "Commander, contact your people guarding the complex on the surface. Tell them to expect company."

"Understood, and Colonel," he said while he had Young's attention, "I believe it would be prudent to launch our own attack craft. They can help take the pressure off our ships."

Young hesitated before answering, long enough for a series of fighters to fire across _Destiny's_ command structure. "Won't that cause confusion about who is who?"

"No, we already modified the identification protocols of our attack craft," he explained. "Please Colonel, to be effective I must launch them now."

"Alright, do it," Young said without a second thought. Yvsan relayed the command to his ships. In a few moments, a hundred more fighters joined the battle, this time flying out of the fighter bays of the insurgent ships. The already crowded space was now alive with fighters flying in every direction and firing all across space. Young watched a squadron of fighters fly up to _Destiny_ and open fire on her attackers. A dogfight ensued above her bow, the fighters spinning around her in pursuit of enemy fighters. They danced around the ship, waiting for a lined up target. An explosion registered above the dome as the last enemy fighter was destroyed. With that the friendly fighters left to help another ship.

As fighters continued to fly all about in the space around _Destiny,_ Volker did not stop firing. He managed to bring down a few more transports and had the main weapon firing relentlessly at the _Vindictio_. Her shields flared from the punishment but showed no sign of failing. Young stared grimly at the battle scene and shifted his attention to the planet. "Come on Rush," he whispered.

* * *

><p>The council chamber was wrapped in silence after Rush had concluded his speech. Now all the attention was focused on the council. Sobin sat still in contemplation, finally stirring after a moment. "If that will be all, I move the matter be voted upon." He looked to the other members of the council and representatives of the Alliance for any objection. Receiving none, he moved on. "Very well, I remind you that a two-thirds majority is required to affirm the vote. Ambassadors, what say you?"<p>

All three aliens exchanged glances before proceeding. Pharaes spoke first. "Dr. Palos speaks well about his proposal. On our part, we sense no ill intention or malevolence, only pure curiosity and desire to learn. The features of the mission are also fascinating. As such, the Nox will cast their vote in support."

He turned to his side and gestured for Odin to speak. "I must confess that I find this to be a bold and noble goal. The Asgard vote for the mission and are very interested in providing any assistance we can."

Choor'mak was the center of attention now. He looked passively to Rush as he spoke. "We see this venture as immense in scale and risky in purpose," he said gruffly. "But at the same time the chance to explore so much of the universe and possibly answer this mystery is an intriguing proposition. Good science requires risk, or the journey to accomplish it was not worthwhile. In this matter I must concur with my colleagues."

While the whole of the audience was calm and attentive, Rush was starting to sweat under the pressure of the situation. He regulated his breathes and tried to keep from looking too nervous in front of the Ancient scientific community.

Once the Furling ambassador spoke, Castima did not wait a second to make her position heard. "I will maintain as I always have, that this mission is simply reckless and pointless. Conventional research and experimentation to yield answers to any questions we have. Not only is this venture a waste of resources, it is orchestrated by the selfish desires of one man. I vote against the launch of _Destiny_." She spoke quickly with obvious disdain towards the mission, but not so much as too seem unprofessional.

Sobin turned to the Councilman on his right and awaited his vote. Tanliz had a very uncomfortable manner about him. He almost seemed more nervous than Rush was. Glancing to Castima, Rush could see her glaring at the Councilman out of the corner of her eyes. Tanliz caught a glimpse of her severe countenance and immediately turned his attention back to Rush. He took a few deep breaths and started. "In my best judgment… this proposal is based on a flawed premise. This venture would require the use of all our seed ships which would set back the production of Stargates. I simply see the costs as greater than the benefits. Therefore I must vote against the launch."

The Councilwoman had a satisfied grin as she sat back in her chair. Sobin glanced around to all the delegates and ended on Rush. "As the final decision seems to rest with me, I will simply cast my support for the mission." The audience murmured excitedly for a brief moment on the decision and Rush let out a breath he'd been holding for a long time. Sobin had a very casual demeanor as he delivered the verdict, very different to Castima's deadly glare in her eyes. She regained her composure immediately before anyone other Rush noticed. "According to the latest reports," Sobin said, reading data off of his console, "_Destiny's_ navigational program is active and all her system are fully operational. Since this was your mission Palos, I feel it is only fitting that you launch _Destiny_. The command controls can be accessed in your office." He took a look to the now energetic crowd. "This council is adjourned."

All of the council members and ambassadors rose from their seats and departed through the large side doors. The spectators erupted into lively conversations as soon as the council left. They began to move around the chamber turning the once quiet and orderly hall into a noisy and bustling convention. Rush had yet to leave his podium, still in a small bit of shock over everything that had just transpired. Out of the crowd of scholars Syno walked up and grabbed Rush's arm, congratulating him on his victory. He proceeded to lead him out of the chamber.

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe what happened," Syno remarked for probably the fourth time. He was excitedly walking around Rush as they made their way to Palos' lab, showing his youth and energy. In the meantime Rush had fully recovered from the incredible experience and was Starting to get annoyed. "Not that I doubted your conviction, I just was sure the result couldn't change. I suppose if Sobin hadn't requested the ambassadors to join, we would have failed."<p>

He continued to ramble all the way down the hall to the lab. Outside the door Rush stopped and turned to Syno, managing to silence him for a moment. "Thank you for everything you've done to help, I truly do appreciate it. But it's been a long day for me, and I'd like a little time to be alone and reflect on everything."

Syno stopped pacing around anxiously and settled down in front of Rush. His face flushed red slightly from embarrassment as he realized how unprofessional he had been. "I'm sorry, I realize how tired you must be. I'll go work on the diagnostic of the seed ship communication link like you asked." He turned to leave when Rush quickly stopped him.

"That can wait for the moment," Rush said in a more patient and kind manner. "You can do that later; right now you deserve a break as well. Why don't you go to the plaza to watch the launch? I'll initiate the launch command in a few minutes."

Smiling at his instructor, Syno graciously thanked him and walked out of the hall down to the plaza. Letting out a sigh of relief, Rush opened the door to the lab and walked in, happy to be finally alone. He walked up and leaned against the stone table, but he only remained alone for a minute.

"Perhaps I can share with you how impressed I am," Palos said, appearing in front of Rush on the other side of the table. Just like all the scientists who had come up to congratulate Rush on his victory, Palos had a wide smile across his face. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help at the council; I didn't want you to look suspicious, talking to an invisible man beside you." He chuckled at himself and then quickly gave Rush a content look. "You managed to achieve in one day what I have struggled to do for months."

Rush gazed up at the Ancient, allowing his weariness to show. "Yeah well I'm just glad this is all over."

"As I recall, you still have a few small tasks to complete," he said, nodding towards a console on the opposite end of the room next to the balcony. Rush stood straight and sauntered over to the console. It had a display of _Destiny_ in the center of it, with various status reports around the ship. He saw a command on the side of the console which controlled the launch protocols. For a few seconds he stood frozen, just staring at the display, overcome from weariness and mental fatigue. Then stretched out his hand and tapped the button.

First the console beeped, acknowledging the command. Then a moment later a powerful klaxon sounded from outside. It immediately got Rush's attention and he walked to the balcony to investigate. The plaza below the tower was crowded with people. From his elevation it was difficult to be sure, but it looked as if members of all the species from the Alliance of the Four Great Races were present in the plaza. They were all gathered to watch the launch. Several small floating Kinos gleamed in the sunlight, catching his attention for a fleeting second. The klaxon sounded for a second time, warning the attendants in the plaza of the upcoming launch.

A powerful hum began to resonate through the air as _Destiny_ powered up her systems. Her running lights came on one by one until the ship was aglow and alive across the desert plain. A loud thud was heard as the docking clamps released the ship from her tether to Earth. Then half a dozen atmospheric rockets that were placed on the underbelly of the ship activated with a great roar, sending a massive dust cloud into the air. A force field protected the tower and the plaza from becoming filled with the suffocating dust, and _Destiny_ disappearing from sight. The roar did not recede in strength, but the source was still obscured by the dust cloud. Then with a deafening boom the rockets propelled _Destiny_ out of the cloud, her tall command structure becoming visible first. Following right behind, her massive body passed through the dust and the rockets continued to burn powerfully, leaving a trail behind as _Destiny_ rose up into the sky. Now high above the tower, _Destiny's_ own sublight engines activated and she immediately went speeding off to space, disappearing from view in a matter of seconds. All of the rockets had separated from the ship and harmlessly fell into the desert.

With that everything was silent. The hum from Destiny was gone, the roar of the engines silenced. The dust cloud was thick and covered a significant portion on the plain, but the wind was slowly dispersing it. Rush could see the plaza already emptying. With nothing to look at, he turned back to looked at Palos, his face beaming. "Now that is a moment that I wish I could never forget. Unfortunately another side effect of my using the stones in this manner is a failed transference of short term memory, the first blow in my debilitating condition."

Rush nodded sympathetically to him, realizing how terrible it must be to lose yourself. "I suppose I'll just have to remember for the both of us."

Palos smiled and nodded. "Thank you, I appreciate the gesture." Looking around the room one last time, Rush caught sight of a stack of notebooks in the corner of the room. He inhaled sharply and walked over to the small stone shelf supporting them. Palos followed with his eyes, frowning at Rush's fascination with them. "Some of my journals from my earliest days in research," he explained as Rush picked up the top notebook and began to flip through the crisp papers covering in Ancient scribbles. "In my youth I loved handwriting, but as I grew busier, I found I simply could not work as efficiently."

He read a page from the journal and then flipped all the way to the end. Rush ripped out a blank page and returned the notebook to its shelf. Next the notebooks there was a fine-tipped stylus which he quickly grabbed. Taking these items, he walked to the stone table and put the paper down. Quickly he wrote one word on the paper and shoved it into the pocket of Palos' tunic. "Now I can go," he finally said, looking sadly around the room. He spent a moment taking in the contents and features of the room one more time. "There's so much here, so many things I could learn. This may be one of the most revealing encounters of Ancient society. I could answer so many questions we've had."

"That's not why you came here though," Palos said softly, looking intently at Rush. "You knew your mission and you did it remarkably well. I also know that you are aware that anything beyond your actions here today will adversely affect the timeline." Rush sighed and nodded in agreement. "You have to return to your people, and soon."

Still nodding, Rush gave the room one final inspection, burning it into his mind. He ended on the balcony, admiring the suns' rays that shone through the gaps in the settling dust cloud. "Of course." He rubbed his hand across the cool stone table and slowly walked to the stone terminal. "What will happen with Amanda?" he asked looking at the device.

"Once the connection is terminated, her program will be sent to a seed ship already far along its path," Palos explained. "One of them was equipped with a stone terminal so we could monitor its progress by uploading programs and receiving status reports. I suppose no one ever considered just how I might use that. When her program arrives, it will upload to the seed ship and she will assume control, taking the proper course of action to deploy and defend this stone terminal for you to find."

"She did do that very well, but you still took a big gamble that this plan would even work," Rush noted giving the Ancient a sidelong glance. "So many things could have gone wrong."

"Sometimes, a little faith isn't a bad thing," he said in turn, giving Rush a crooked smile.

Rush chuckled in response and looked earnestly to Palos. "It was an honor to meet you."

Palos bowed slightly to Rush. "The honor is mine, knowing that someone as dedicated as you is keeping _Destiny_ alive." He furrowed his brow and gave Rush a grave look. "You've helped me today in an unimaginable way. Let me attempt to help you now."

* * *

><p>Greer fired a trio of shots from his energy rifle and brought down a Nati soldier. He collapsed onto another dead soldier and Greer returned to the cover of his alcove. Varro was on the other side of the room with the insurgent troops surrounding him, while all of the airmen were close to Greer. Two surviving enemy troops continued to fire from around the lip of the entrance, but they could not get a clear shot without being shot themselves. As such most of their shots were clean misses.<p>

Hanging in cover, Greer pulled a grenade from his vest. He peered out from cover, yanked the pin and lobbed the explosive across the hall and right into the mouth of the entrance. "Fire in the hole!" he shouted. A second later a bright flash and cacophonous boom signaled the end of the enemy attackers. Chunks of rubble flew across the room and the shooting stopped. "All clear."

All of the soldiers left their cover and spread throughout the room, suddenly making it seem full of people. Greer was looking around the room, surveying the damage when he saw Richmond lying facedown three meters away from the edge of the entrance. The airman had a huge burn across his back where the pursuing Nati had shot him before he could reach cover. "Damn," he said, running up to the soldier to confirm what he already knew. He could find no pulse on his neck. Angrily, Greer rose and turned to the commanding insurgent soldier. "I thought I heard you tell me you reinforced the entrance," he barked.

The soldier maintained his composure as he replied. "We deployed a squad out there, but the enemy attacked in large numbers."

"Well just don't let it happen again," Greer returned. "Get that entrance secured again."

He sighed in an aggravated manner, but nodded. Getting on his communicator he ordered more transports to land and defend the entrance to the complex.

Greer had a moment to think before Varro shouted from the far end of the room. "Sergeant!" He turned around, weapon raised anticipating something dangerous. Instead he saw the door to the communication terminal room begin to open. Rush slowly lumbered out and stumbled over. Varro caught him and helped to support him as Greer ran over to him. "Doc', good timing. I don't know how much longer we could defend this position. Let's get moving."

Panting heavily, Rush simply waved his hand in contradiction to Greer's order. "No," he managed to blurt out in raspy, tired voice. "No, there… there's one more… thing I have to do," he said weakly, straining for each breathe.

The Sergeant gave him a confused look. "What the hell are you talking about? We are under attack. We need to go, now!"

Starting to get some of his energy back, Rush spoke more clearly. "I'm aware of that Sergeant, and I'm trying to help. Did you find another room in this complex?" he asked urgently, shoving off from Varro and supporting himself against a wall. "It would look like some kind of a command center."

"Yeah, there's a place like that on the other side of this tunnel," Varro said pointing through the hallway. "We haven't been able to figure anything out about what it does though."

"Good, I need you to take me there," Rush insisted, starting to walk slowly towards the hall only to stumble from a dizzy spell. Again Varro caught him and this time Rush didn't fight the help.

"I'm sorry Doc', but we've probably got a lot of bad guys on their way here right now. We need to get everyone back to _Destiny_. It's not gonna be safe here for long."

Rush gave him a pointed look. "Do you really think the Ancients would build a facility out here with no way to defend it?" he asked snidely. "Get me to that room, please."

Understanding what he was suggesting, Greer got onto Rush's other side and with Varro's help began to move him to the other chamber. He yelled to all of the soldiers in the room. "Cover us as we move through the tunnels. There might be some more of them out here." Immediately the insurgents piled in front of them and the remaining Airmen took up the rear. Finally noticing their presence, Rush stared blankly at the insurgent troops. He turned to Greer and took conscious note of the translator. Greer saw the scientist's inquisitive stare. "It's a long story."

Luckily for all of them, there were no surviving Nati troops left. Greer ordered all of the insurgent forces to guard the entrance until back-up could arrive. Dunning and Atienza led the way into the control center which still had its squad of defending insurgent forces. Rush looked around the expansive room in mild amazement. Then he directed his attention to the console of the edge of the hole in the center of the room. He pointed to it urgently. "Over there."

Varro and Greer immediately moved over to the console and let go of Rush. He supported himself in the edge of the console and began to tap away at the screen. "I'm still not sure what you can do," Varro quipped, turning to train his weapon on the door in case any enemy forces came down the tunnel. "We spent hours here with no success. There's a code restricting access to most of the systems."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I happen to know the code," Rush said, quickly unlocking control of the systems. The display surged to life, the main lines of data disappearing and being replaced by a three-dimensional representation of the planet. Dozens of dots were located above the Ancient complex. _Destiny_ was at the center of one cluster of dots and the computer seemed to have extrapolated battle data to identify which ships were enemies and which were allies.

"Doesn't look like things are going too well up there," Greer said as one of the blue dots around _Destiny_ flashed and disappeared. "If you're going to do something Rush, I'd suggest you don't wait."

Rush nodded agreeably and set to work on the terminal.

* * *

><p>From their position in the insurgent fleet, Young could easily see the allied cruiser's systems flicker and die only to watch the ship get ripped in two when her core overloaded. The deck shook violently as an enemy cruiser shifted fire to the <em>Destiny<em>. At the same time the two surviving flanking cruisers managed to destroy the foremost cruiser in the diamond, heavily crippling the integrity of the enemy formation. Only a handful of fighters were still flying; a great number had been destroyed but the enemy attackers were repelled. The allied fighters were currently returning to their respective ships.

"I'm receiving heavy damage reports from several of my ships," Yvsan informed as a flurry of sparks shot out from the ceiling.

"Shields are starting to buckle," Brody said in a similarly dire manner. "They're down to twenty-seven percent."

"I want to keep the pressure on the capital ship. How are they doing?" Young asked.

Eli took a brief second to shift his focus to the _Vindictio_. "I'm reading light damage to some of her systems, but her shields are still around seventy percent. We're hurting them but we need more firepower," he reported. An urgent alarm came from his station as soon as he finished speaking. He stared at it in confusion. "What the…?"

Young had no patience with his silence at this moment. "What is it, Eli?"

"I'm reading a massive power build up from the Ancient complex, significantly more than it had before," he said as he tried to make sense of what he was reading. "Now I'm seeing seismic disturbances in a two hundred kilometer radius around the Ancient complex. It looks like some kind of silos or something. There are over two dozen separate occurrences along the circle."

A powerful explosion went off in the hallway and sparks flew across the bridge. From the viewport it was clear _Destiny_ and the insurgents were putting up a powerful fight, but so was the enemy. "Can you give me anything more than that?!" Young shouted as a pipe burst and a gas began to fill the room with a loud hiss. Brody quickly sealed and rerouted the gas flow in a moment.

Eli continued to look at his display for a few seconds and after that his eyes opened wide and he looked somewhat panicked. "Okay, now I see it. Weapon platforms around the complex; they're fully powered up and are discharging!"

"Lieutenant, get us out of here now!" Young shouted.

"No no no!" Eli yelled in response, rising from his chair and walking down the stairs. "Don't do anything, stay right where you are. Tell your ships to hold position," he said to Yvsan as well. The commander gave a startled look to Young, whom gave him a nod to obey.

"You better be right about this Eli," Young shouted, holding onto the armrest of his chair. Nothing happened for a few moments and then dozens of swift orange bursts went flying right past _Destiny _and the insurgent task force. They clearly were coming from the planet surface, behind the fleet, and the shots went through the fleet, only narrowly missing _Destiny_ and her allies. Instead, they lashed across space and slammed into the ships of the enemy fleet. The powerful shots brought the shields to life on all the ships.

"Colonel, those weapons are powerful," Eli said after he had returned to his station. "They're really straining their shields. I think we've got a good chance of getting through them."

As he spoke the myriad of weapons fire managed to penetrate the shields on one of the cruisers. Unprotected, the heavy weapons burned through the hull, leaving giant craters in the side of the ship. When the fighter bay was hit huge explosions resonated through the underbelly of the ship. With a few more shots across her engineering section the ship went dark and began to drift away from the formation, powerless.

"I get the feeling that we won't need to worry about those cruisers," Young commented. "Volker, focus all your fire on the capital ship. Commander, tell your ships to do the same."

The planet side weapons fire in conjunction with the insurgent task force proved to be too much for the enemy fleet. The already battered shields of the cruisers flared and popped out of existence very quickly allowing the planetary weapons to tear through their hull. The _Vindictio _was tougher and tried to hold out longer. Still, there was no hiding the struggle the shields were having in trying to keep up with the assault. After trying to hold on for a while, she stopped firing.

"Eli, talk to me!" the Colonel shouted.

"It looks like they've diverted power to shields," Eli reported. "I'm reading a power buildup from her main core."

Yvsan ran over to the terminal and quickly looked at the power levels. "They're preparing to go to hyperspace!"

"No, we're not letting them run," Young said resolute. "I want this to end now."

"Their shields are buckling. I don't think they can jump in time." Right as he said that, a powerful energy vortex formed in front of the _Vindictio_. The tendrils of energy swirled around it in an unstable, irregular manner. As the engines powered up the shields faltered long enough for a volley of shots to slam into her massive engines. The capital ship accelerated into the hyperspace window, but the damage to the engines threw off the course, sending the ship careening to port. Instead of a normal approach, the window began to fizzle out of existence and the starboard side of the ship slammed into the destabilized packet of energy. Collapsing completely, the hyperspace window released all of the unstable energy and let it splash across the lateral shields of the capital ship. It took only a moment for the shields around the ship to sparkle brightly and fade into oblivion.

While now devoid of any shielding, the vessel still had significant armor to defend itself. Even though the physical damage seemed to be light, the ship did not stabilize itself as it continued to drift in space. "Eli," Young chirped again wanting answers.

"Yeah yeah I'm on it," he replied briskly, looking over the incoming sensor data with Yvsan looking over his shoulder.

"Their main core destabilized when the subspace window collapsed," the Commander said, more familiar with the data than Eli. "They have temporarily lost primary power." He turned to look at Young. "I hate to sound overly optimistic, but I don't believe they can survive any longer."

"Let's hope so," Young returned, gazing back to the windows. The ship was still and relatively calm for the moment as nothing was being fired at _Destiny_. Things looked very different for the Nati fleet. With a heavy barrage, the last warship exploded in a brilliant fireball, spewing debris across space. A few decent sized chunks smashed into the capital ship, bouncing off but causing some damage regardless. With no remaining targets, the combined firepower of the planetary defense grid, _Destiny_, and the insurgent ships was entirely focused on the _Vindictio_. Explosions rippled across her hull and sent metallic fragments flying into space. Her inner compartments became exposed, even if they resided in what seemed to be about two meters of armor. The thick hull was incapable of withstanding the massive bombardment, and breaches formed all over her. In a brilliant flash of light, one of her large engines completely exploded when the internal fuel reserves detonated from a relentless barrage. It split a section of the hull and sent a large crack of sorts that ran through the structural weaknesses imposed by hull breaches.

Watching the carnage, Young was snapped back to the bridge. "Colonel, I'm getting an odd reading from the capital ship," Brody said. "It looks like they're launching some kind of ship."

Yvsan proceeded to check to telemetry from the science station. "He's right. It's the scout ship we encountered earlier. The _Vindictio_ must have been its mothership."

As they spoke, a small craft separated from the bottom side of the capital ship, its shape consistent with the scout ship that had scanned the task force a few hours ago. Before he could order Volker to shift fire to the new target, the ship's engines burst to life and she sped far away from the _Vindictio_. Within a few seconds she was over two dozen kilometers away. Once safely out of the line of fire she jumped to hyperspace.

"Can we track it?" Young asked.

"No, the scout ship doesn't follow communication protocols the same way," Yvsan said. "It's gone."

Young sat back and rested his head against the back of the chair for a moment, watching the capital ship take fire for a while more. Then suddenly the attack from the planet stopped. He sat up again and once more turned to Eli.

Anticipating the question, he was already looking through his sensor data. "Weapons on the surface are still active; I'm not reading any problem down there. It looks like they decided to give them a break."

Reading the telemetry on the capital ship, Yvsan contributed. "The _Vindictio_ has completely lost main power. Weapons, shields, engines, and life support are all off-line. The ship and her crew won't be bothering us ever again," he said coolly as he turned to face Young.

Nodding, he turned to look at the wreck. "Cease fire, all ships." The flurry of weapons fire quickly died down and space was dark again. Young stared at the remains of the once glorious ship. It was surprisingly whole, even if it was pockmarked with craters and spewing debris and oxygen from exposed compartments. "I suppose you could get a lot of resources from her husk," Young postulated. Surrounding the capital ship was a massive debris field formed from all of the other eviscerated cruisers. Only a few had exploded entirely onto a billion tiny fragments. Most of them were ripped into a few pieces, with a couple still mostly in one piece, drifting without power in the field.

"It's possible, but right now I'm just glad that I have the chance to even make the decision," he said. Slowly he walked up to Young and stood to the side of his chair humbly. "I'll confess that I was sure we would all die by the end of today. Supporting you always felt like the right choice to make, even if I doubted the outcome. Thank you… for giving me faith in our future."

Young looked at the Commander for a long few seconds. He them rose from his chair and walked right up to him. "Thank you for giving me faith in friends," he said with genuine gratitude, extending his hand. Yvsan frowned and meekly extended his own, shaking Young's hand. "Now," he said releasing Yvsan and moving to the viewport, taking a quick glance at the battle field, "let's finish our original mission. Commander, try to raise your troops on the surface. I have a feeling I know who to thank for the assistance."

* * *

><p>"I really am fine. No don't worry about me," Rush insisted for the third time, now getting somewhat annoyed. "Go take care of your other patients. This'll help me." He held up a cup with water and pointed to the plate of tubers on the table next to his bed.<p>

TJ sighed and gazed to her four other patients. There were fewer casualties from this battle, but the unavoidable burns and lacerations still found their way to the infirmary. Rush sat up in his bed without any wounds, although he did look quite exhausted. "Fine," she assented, "but if you start to feel bad let me know."

"I will, thank you," he replied, taking a big gulp of water and shoving a forkful of the tuber into his mouth. TJ nodded and walked away to Dr. Fisher who had a nasty gash across her forearm. Rush sighed and leaned back in his bed, resting for a moment and reflecting on everything that he had gone through in the last day.

It was in that moment that a loud stomping of boots yanked Rush from his reflections. He opened his eyes to see Young and the Nati Commander walk up to his bed. Tiredly he greeted the Colonel. "I didn't expect you to check up on me already. Or maybe you really did miss me."

Young smirked at him and Rush returned the gesture. "Sergeant Greer's report on what you did was pretty thorough, at least on how you made him drag you across the complex so you could save all of our asses."

"That actually covers it rather well. I may need a while to compile my report on my encounter with the Ancients. As you can imagine, it was a rather mind-numbing experience."

"Of course," he replied, turning to look at Yvsan. He grabbed a translator from his pocket and handed it to Rush. "If you have a moment, the Commander wanted to say something."

Rush gingerly took the device and looked at Yvsan. "Does he?" he said drily. He twirled the translator between his fingers for a moment and then attached it to his temple with a heavy breathe.

Now that everyone could communicate, Young stepped aside and let the Commander stand forward. "Doctor Rush, this is Commander Yvsan. He is the leader of the Nati insurgent movement. Though after today I'd say you're pretty much in charge," he remarked.

Yvsan gave the Colonel an amused face. "That would be taking our current situation to an extreme. While this was a definite victory, we were heavily beaten as well," he said meekly. "We have a lot of damage to repair, and we need to establish a permanent base of operations. I sent some men in space suits to examine the wreck of the _Vindictio_. They found Vesari dead on the bridge from asphyxiation; he stayed with his ship to the last moment. Tarym hasn't been found, and while it is a large ship, I believe it quite likely he escaped on the scout ship. His forces might be heavily crippled, but as their leader he would be able to coordinate some offensive against us." He shook off the formal attitude and military thinking and turned to Rush, giving him a gracious smile. "Thank you, for helping to make this victory possible."

Ignoring the gratitude, Rush stared blankly at him. "Well that's good to hear. I can't help you with all of your issues, but I might be able to give you one piece of good news. The complex on the planet surface is well defended, as you've already seen, and has nearly unlimited power from its geothermal core. Establishing a colony here would be incredibly simple and you would be safe here."

Yvsan stared agape for a moment. "That actually is a perfect solution. I suppose I was so wrapped up in the heat of battle and positive we would perish, I never considered it as an option." He looked excitedly from Rush to Young. "The chance to reside in such a place and to study the technology of our Lords; it is an incredible opportunity."

"Yeah, it would probably be an amazing experience," Rush said tiredly, his eyes drooping in disappointment.

"Then you'll be glad to hear that you can help study the complex," Young said. "Right after you disconnected the stones the countdown clock reset for eight days. There'll be plenty of time for you to go planet side."

The news seemed to lighten Rush's temperament immensely. "I'll have to take you up on that offer. Assuming repairs on _Destiny_ won't take too much of my time."

"Don't worry about that. We sustained only moderate damage in the attack," Young reassured. "Brody assures me that with a few supplies from the Commander we can make all crucial repairs on a couple days."

"In that case, I'll return to the complex as soon as Lieutenant Johansson decides to release me," Rush said loud enough for TJ to hear him. She gave him a quick sidelong glance and chuckled, returning to Fisher.

Yvsan was positively beaming at the news. "Excellent! With your help, we could most likely uncover the full operational potential of the site." Then he mellowed and looked to Young. "It's only unfortunate that you have to leave so soon. Not only have you proven to be invaluable allies and friends, we could benefit from your experience with this technology. While my people have many talented engineers among them, they will undoubtedly be hard at work repairing our fleet for a long time. We don't have many scientists to study the site."

It was at that moment that a distinct hum began to reverberate through the hallway and into the infirmary. A Nati doctor turned the corner pushing a hovering medical bed, the anti-grav unit producing the sound. On the bed was Kalin. He was heavily wrapped up so most of his body was obscured, but his head was exposed. His flesh looked burned in patches across his face, and his hair was black and short. Overall he did not look good, but he was awake and seemed to somehow be able to carry a small smile on his face. He had a translator on his temple, which told Young that he couldn't have any brain injury which was a relief. Several tubes from the side of the bed were stuck into his arm delivered measured amounts of various colored liquids into his body.

Maintaining his composure, Young walked a few steps to stop in front of the bed. "Kalin, it's good to see you're alright."

"I could say the same for you," he answered, speaking slowly with a strained voice. "I was in and out of consciousness for a while, so I feared the worst. But the doctors there have taken good care of me."

"We've started to treat his burns, but it is a slow process," the doctor controlling the bed explained. "He needed a break from the therapy, so we thought it would be healthy to expose him to a familiar environment."

"Thank you for that; it is good to be here again." He stopped and breathed in slowly, looking somewhat uncomfortably to Young. "That was actually something I would like to speak to you about."

"What is it?" Young said softly after Kalin didn't speak for a moment.

"Well, this therapy will take me a long time," he started. "I have been told the technology is not portable, so the only way for me to continue my treatment is to stay with the Nati. Once I've recovered enough, I can begin to be active again and work on the planet. You know that I'm well studied in Ancient technology. I could make a difference for these people." He spoke with determination, not trying to evoke any pity. "Being here, on _Destiny_, has been a memorable experience. But here I'm just another scientist adding to an already talented group. With them, I could help in a bigger way."

Surprisingly, Rush spoke first. "Don't dismiss yourself as an asset to this ship so easily. You've been invaluable, and played a large part of our continued survival. You're as much a part of _Destiny_ as any of us."

Kalin froze for a second and bobbed his head meekly to him. "Thank you; it means a lot to hear you say that."

"And he's right," Young said, chipping into the conversation. "We've all gotten better because of you. You added to this crew."

"And I would love to stay here, but there's no room for an invalid here," he remarked. "At least with the Nati I can recover and put my knowledge to good use once more."

The Colonel slowly stepped up and rested his hand on Kalin's arm, the cast feeling very soft and warm to the touch. "I know you'll do your best for them."

He gave Young a small appreciative smile. "I'll represent our people with honor, and I'll keep in communication as long as you are in range." His eyes surveyed the rest of the room, taking on the features once more. "It's too early for good-bye right now. You'll be around for a little longer. Maybe I'll just go have a look around the ship."

"Sounds like a good idea," Young said stepping back to give the bed room to move. "I'm sure there are plenty of people who would like to see you."

The doctor moved backwards, pulling the bed into the hallway and starting to walk away. "He's a good kid," Young said to the Commander. "You'd be foolish not to accept his help."

"I've seen how your crew regards him. He will be well respected among my people."

"It's funny," Rush started slowly, getting Young's attention, "to see someone leave this ship and _not_ be in a body bag."

Young thought on the remark and nodded. "I guess he's the lucky one."

Within a heartbeat, Eli came bursting into the infirmary, a laptop tucked under his arm and a surprised look as he pointed down the hall where Kalin went. "Did you guys see Kalin?" he asked, getting a nod from Young. "He looks like crap, but I guess being alive is good enough for him right now." He proceeded to shake his head and move on to another topic. "Anyways, that's not why I'm here."

"What've you got for us?" Young asked, moving aside as Eli stormed through and put his laptop on the table to the side of Rush's bed so everyone could see the screen.

"Well the Commander was kind enough to give us access to the sensor records of his ships from the battle," he started, typing furiously on his laptop. "I wanted to compare notes on the battle, try to see if our sensors might have missed something that could be a tactical advantage against a Nati cruiser should we ever come across a hostile one on the future."

"And I take it you found something we could use?"

This was when Eli paused and gave Young and Rush a grim look. "Not exactly. I was checking over the long-range sensors when I saw this." He clicked open a data file, which showed a still image of the battle. In addition to a static image, it had information about radiation spanning multiple wavelengths and other physical properties that a picture just couldn't tell. The capital ship was in the center of the frame, under heavy attack, weapons fire frozen as they were flying towards to behemoth, technical data crowding the screen. A moon was partly obscured by the massive ship, orbiting the planet far away from the battle field.

Young stared at the frame, but couldn't find anything. Rush sat up in interest and stared at the moon. "What's that?" he said pointing to a tiny red dot perched right behind the moon, almost unnoticeable if one didn't know how to interpret the heat emissions which the telemetry displayed.

"That was my first question," Eli said ominously. He zoomed in the image and focused solely on the object hiding behind the moon.

"Oh no," Rush mumbled as he stared at the silhouette of the sizable craft that had taken refuge in the moon's shadow. The shape of the craft was unmistakable, with its bulbous aft section flanked on either side by large pods and its trapezoidal configuration. Sitting still and dark in space, the Nakai mother ship managed to provoke a dreadful response.

"How did they find us?" Young asked pointedly, now incredibly concerned for the ship's wellbeing once more.

"It's possible they found this place the same way we did," Yvsan postulated. "They detected the transmission and came to investigate."

"There's a good chance that is what happened," Eli said, agreeing with him. "They're obsessed with Ancient technology, and the signal would've definitely piqued their curiosity."

"If they exited hyperspace behind the moon, it is possible we wouldn't have seen them," Rush added. "Once they saw the battle they must have decided the safest course of action would be to watch from a distance, gather intelligence."

"I take it they left?" Young asked.

Eli nodded in response. "I can't see them anymore after the battle was over."

"Perhaps I should send one of my cruisers to the area," Yvsan offered, "to ensure they left no surveillance equipment."

The Colonel immediately nodded in agreement. "That's a good idea. You probably need to get back to your ship anyways to begin coordinating your repair effort."

"That would be a prudent decision," he responded. Nodding his head to everyone individually, he turned to leave but Young stopped him.

"Oh and Commander, when things calm down I'll give you that tour I promised," Young said cordially. Yvsan smiled and walked out.

As soon as the Commander was out of the room, Eli ripped the translator off of his head with a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank God. These things itch so badly!" He scratched his temple vigorously. "I've got a rash, haven't I?"

Rush removed his as well, slipping it into his pocket. "Well, things can only get harder from here. This encounter couldn't have come at a worse moment. They undoubtedly saw us and know we made it to this galaxy."

"They'll come for us," Young said quietly.

"Without a question and we'll be leaving the safety of Nati space soon," he said, getting a quizzical look from Eli. "Saw what you will about our encounter with these people, but they have managed to maintain dominance and protect their border from the Nakai and other space faring races. Once we enter open space, we'll need to be very careful."

Eli groaned aloud, closing his laptop and shoving his translator into the pouch of his hoodie. "I am going to go and take a nap, and not worry about another set of aliens that want to kill us." He walked out briskly, his footsteps quickly receding down the hall.

"They've all been through a lot today," Young remarked as he gazed down the hall. "Maybe we'll take a day off, and just relax." He took a breath and started to walk out.

"So much sacrifice," Rush said suddenly, the influx of emotions from the whole day finally hitting him, stopping Young in his tracks, "from so many."

Frowning, Young turned back and sat next to Rush. "What do you mean?"

"To keep this ship moving towards its goal, how many died?" Rush asked, staring weakly at Young. "So many of our own people died; how many of the Commander's people died defending this ship and myself? Palos shortened his life by using the stones and pushing his agenda against the Ancient community. While I know this mission will have an end… I can't tell you when it will be. I have to wonder, when will you and me need to make that sacrifice?"

Staring back at the scientist, Young just shook his head. "I don't know. When it is time, I'll do what I have to, but I don't know when it'll be." He rose, and began to walk away. Once more, he turned around. "It won't be today, I promise you that." With that he walked out of the room.

Rush continued to stare at the spot where Young had stood, and finally budged after a moment. He leaned back in his bed and looked to the ceiling, closing his eyes and drifting back to the desert all those millions of years ago.

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. The crew finds the ruins of a civilization full of impressive technology. But when two members of the crew are suddenly caught in one of the strange devices, a dangerous series of events will unfold.<em>


	12. Echo

_Hello. I'm Simon Cross._

_I must admit that I am happy I got this chapter written in a shorter time span than my previous one. Five months isn't great, I know, but it still pleases me. I want to send a sincere thanks to everyone that has patiently waited for this update, and a bigger thanks to those who kept reminding me to get this done. Without your help I probably would have continued to put this project off. I've been juggling a few separate projects at the same time, so having to divide my attention definitely stretched out the release of this episode. Regardless, I spent a lot of time considering where I'm going to take this season, and this episode had to be handled carefully to properly set up some things; that's all you get from me on that subject!_

_Episode twelve! First, I will admit that this episode ran longer than I initially intended. The main reason is because of the details and exposition it required. The downside of telling and not showing is that it takes so much longer to set up the environment. I worked hard to describe the settings as best as I could, while not deviating too far from the actual story telling. So, if something doesn't seem detailed enough, I implore you to fill in the gaps with your imagination! Still, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. This episode is meant to work towards character development and is an isolated story. It's not as long as my previous episode, but it's not far away from it either. __Please please please review this episode! This is a fan site and it is YOUR critiques that help develop my storytelling skills. Tell me what I'm doing right and wrong, if you think I'm interpreting the characters wrong. I'll be honest, I've had to go and re-watch some episodes because I needed to refresh my memory about the characters._

_I wish I could tell you when I would have the next episode out, but I really don't know. My free time has been dwindling so it may be a while before you see an update. I can say that my plans for the next few chapters follow an episodic pattern. I got a bit tired of the long drawn out story arc from the first half-season, so I'm taking a short break on that. That means I've got a lot of varied story ideas coming up, and maybe if I energize myself enough about them, I'll be able to get around to writing sooner than I anticipate._

_Well, that's all I've got and I've kept you from the story long enough. Enjoy!_

**_NOTE: I do not own Stargate Universe and all of these ideas are mine and not taken from anything the original writers of SGU had intended or from other fandom to the best of my knowledge. The opening statements in quotes are from SGU episodes and are not my words, except for quotes from my episode, "Launch". The episodes "Divided", "The Greater Good", "Deliverance", and "Twin Destinies" are sources for the quotes and they were obtained from the transcripts available on the Gateworld website._**

* * *

><p>312: Echo<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>It's not a game, Colonel.<em> Destiny's_ mission requires a level of commitment I doubt anyone in that ship's prepared to make._

_Everyone on this ship is useful, not just those that are capable of F.T.L. calculations. We all belong here._

_So everything happens for a reason. _

_Yeah, well, if you'd have said that to me a couple of years ago, I'd have dismissed it as superstition - a classic weak-minded response to the overwhelming complexity of the universe._

_A message, perhaps, or a sign of intelligence from the beginning of time._

_There is no mission other than getting these people home. _

_It was never about going home. It's about getting us to where we're going. That is the mission._

_Who knows how close we are to finding it; how close we are to learning ... in the Ancients' words ... "the destiny of all things"?_

_My name is Yvsan, a Commander… or I should say former Commander of the Nati Imperial Defense Force. We are willing to help you._

_If that's all true, then I don't think I need to say how much we could use an ally out here. We're alone, far from home…_

_Then it pleases me to say that you have found an ally._

_How's Kalin?_

_He's stable; for the moment. They've got impressive technology that can help burn victims…_

_Well, this therapy will take me a long time. I have been told the technology is not portable, so the only way for me to continue my treatment is to stay with the Nati. Once I've recovered enough, I can begin to be active again and work on the planet. You know that I'm well studied in Ancient technology. I could make a difference for these people._

_You've been invaluable, and played a large part of our continued survival. You're as much a part of Destiny as any of us._

_They're never going to give up. You know that, right? Whatever information they got from me, it's just going to make them want the ship even more._

_How did they find us?_

_It's possible they found this place the same way we did. They detected the transmission and came to investigate._

_There's a good chance that is what happened. They're obsessed with Ancient technology, and the signal would've definitely piqued their curiosity._

_Everyone thinks we're safe. They think that they'll never find us again. We're not safe, are we?_

_No."_

* * *

><p>Brody opened his eyes right as the ship began to groan loudly. The typical distortion effect passed through the ship as the <em>Destiny <em>dropped out of F.T.L. and returned to normal space. For Brody, and virtually all of the crew members, this event acted like an alarm clock, starting a new adventure at a new and most likely dangerous setting. Yawning loudly, the doctor slowly sat up in his bed, sleepily rubbing his eyes. He proceeded to gaze out of the window and could make out a subtle yellow-orange hue against the hull visible from his quarters.

Rising, he took a few small steps to the window and squinted. Still far away, the local star was burning bright and illuminating the whole hull brilliantly. At a moderate pace, _Destiny _glided forward to the star, currently making its way through the outer planets. At this moment, a gas giant was to the starboard of _Destiny _with rings orbiting at an angle that was roughly forty degrees from the solar plane. Brody sighed and slowly proceeded to dress himself in the only set of clothes he had.

Roughly five minutes later, he was lumbering onto the Bridge. Rush already sitting at the center station, checking some sensor telemetry. Brody wasn't able to make it halfway across the room before Colonel Young walked in.

"What do we have today, gentlemen?" he asked making his way to the front of the room with an animated pace.

Rush turned around in his seat, giving a small nod of acknowledgement to Brody's presence as he sat down at the left station. "We've dropped out of F.T.L. in system and _Destiny _has already plotted a course to the star to begin refueling. We entered normal space at a substantial distance from the star, so we have fifty-three hours on the clock."

"Is there anything of interest we can check out while we're here?" Young asked, getting right to business.

The Scotsman shook his head, his long hair swaying around his shoulders as he did so. "There's nothing much here as far as well can tell from our location. The second planet is Earth-like, but there really is no need to put the effort into sending a shuttle to investigate. We're in range of three Stargates in adjacent star systems."

"Are we dialing out yet?"

"Aye, Mr. Volker should be getting readings from the first planet right about…" Rush started but was promptly cut off by the radio crackling.

"Bridge, this is Volker," the other scientist said from the Gate room.

Young grinned. "I think we've got this routine down a little too perfect," he remarked.

Grabbing the radio he had left on the edge of his console, Rush responded. "This is Rush, go ahead."

"I'm receiving telemetry on the first planet," he said in a monotone. "Initial scans look promising. It's got an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, comfortable temperature. There's no outstanding threat from solar radiation."

"What about plant and animal life?" Young inquired, having picked the radio up from Rush a moment ago.

Static filled the radio for a few moments. "Affirmative on plant life and it looks like there's a river running just a hundred meters away from the 'Gate. I'm taking the Kino up to get a better look at the surrounding area. I'll let you know if I… woah," Volker said, his surprise clearly coming through over the radio.

At this moment everyone perked up and started to pay closer attention to the radio. Young immediately pressed on the issue. "What is it, Volker?"

"You gonna want to see this, sir," was his sole reply.

Brody immediately tapped in a short command on his console. "Patching us into the Kino feed," he said, the screens on all the forward stations changing from their usual output to display the distorted footage. Right now the Kino was clearing a tall tree, but a moment later it rose above the forest and presented everyone with a clear line of sight onto a large set of ruins. It was hard to see any details from here, but it was built alongside the river bank and went on for several kilometers away from the river. None of the surviving structures were taller than forty or fifty meters, but based on the piles of rubble and general layout of some buildings, there was no doubt that this city was massive and had been built by a sophisticated people. The decay was extensive, and the lower portions of most of the structures were overrun with vegetation.

"Bridge, are you seeing this?" Volker asked urgently.

"Roger, stand by." The Kino continued to fly over the city, but it didn't reveal anything significant, just streets and streets of ruin and uncontrolled plant growth. Young watched silently for a moment before speaking. "Is there any sign of life?"

Staring at his console with doubt, Rush looked closely at the input from the Kino. He shook his head a few seconds later. "There's no sign of recent activity within the ruins. I am reading some sporadic heat signatures, but they are coming from small creatures, most likely wild animals. No active power sources or radiation emissions. I'd say this city is completely deserted."

"It looks like this happened a long time ago," Brody commented as the Kino moved up, granted everyone a better view of the city. "Wait, what's that?" he asked, pointing to a black patch of the city that was just coming into view.

Young took a look at the area in question and spoke into the radio. "Volker, bring the Kino in for a closer look at the top right of the frame."

"I see it, give me a moment to get in position," Volker said compliantly. The picture started to move in towards the mysterious patch, everything growing rapidly in detail. Soon the Kino was positioned about fifty meters above the area in question.

Letting out a low whistle of amazement, Brody stared at the massive crater sitting in what seemed to be the center of the city. At least a whole square kilometer was flattened around the crater, with the building beyond that area heavily damaged, and the earth littered with ash and debris.

"Well, I suppose that's our answer," Rush noted, sitting back into his chair.

"It's consistent with the detonation of a ballistic missile, some of the damage in the surrounding area matches up with smaller explosives," Brody announced, now having context as he was sifting through data.

"This place was a warzone," Young said, summarizing everyone's thoughts and observations. He took a sharp breath before proceeding. "Does it look safe to travel into the city?"

Brody shrugged. "There's no immediate threat if that's what you're asking. It looks like this damage is decades old. If there is still a war happening on this planet, it's left this area well enough alone."

The Colonel nodded and returned the radio to Rush. "Tell Sergeant Greer, Lieutenant James, and Eli to meet me in the Gate Room. Have Volker check out the other two planets in the meantime." He started to walk out of the Bridge.

"I might recommend you bring Chloe along with you," Rush suggested before Young got too far. "Her skill set might be of some help in figuring out who they were."

"Good idea," Young acknowledged as he left the room.

His footsteps quickly receded down the hallways. "Is it just me," Brody said, "or did he seem more perky than usual?"

"It's been almost three weeks since we've come across anything dangerous," Rush speculated, running detailed scans on the incoming telemetry of this star system. "He's probably a bit anxious, expecting something bad to happen."

Furrowing his brow, Brody let out a tired breathe. "I couldn't do that; always worrying. It's hard enough just to keep the ship working; I don't need to fret over the next problem," Brody said as he moved to the science station in the back of the Bridge.

Rush paused for a moment and stared out the window, a pale blue light coming off of the gas giant as _Destiny_ began to pass it. The star was visible between the rocks that made up the rings of the planet, casting beautiful light patterns as it diffused through the rocks and dust. "Everyone's got their job. Some people work on problems in the present, and others plan on how to solve the problems the future brings us." Brody gave him a quick quizzical look before shrugging of his comment and getting back to work.

* * *

><p>Wray walked into the rotunda by the armory just in time to bump into Colonel Young, all outfitted and ready to go offworld. "Hello, Colonel Young."<p>

"Camille," he said shortly but politely. She proceeded to follow him as he continued in the direction of the Gate Room.

"Did we find something of interest already?" she asked, taking note of his serious stride and countenance.

"The Kino found some ruins on the first planet we dialed up. I'm gonna take a team and see if there is anything of interest we can salvage." Listening intently, Wray furrowed her brow. She was getting ready to speak but Young cut her off. "I know what you're thinking. Brody said it looks safe to investigate the area, and we need to get more supplies anyways. Don't worry, we'll be careful."

Smiling at his comments, she gave him a sidelong glance. "Actually," she said slowly, drawing out the moment, "I was going to suggest you take Dr. Ryder along with you."

Young paused in the corridor and stared curiously at her. "Why? I don't need a geologist for this mission."

Looking around the corridor, Wray took an uncomfortable breath. "I know that, but my counseling sessions with Tabitha haven't been moving forward much lately. It might be good for her to get off the ship, even if just for a few hours. Being stuck out here is anxiety producing under normal conditions. For her, it's related to her imprisonment by the Lucian Alliance."

She spoke with a lot of emotion, almost pleading Young to do this. He grinned and nodded back at her, continuing to walk to the Gate Room. "Alright fine, go tell her to get ready. We'll be leaving for the planet within the next five minutes."

"Thank you, Colonel," Wray said smiling. She quickly strode off in the opposite direction.

It only took Young another minute to reach the Gate Room. The Stargate was active, a silver-blue glow shimmering across the room. Volker was at the main console, and the expedition team was already assembled, ready to go offworld. Chloe and Eli were talking by the stairs opposite from Volker. Greer stood stiff at attention when the Colonel appeared. Lieutenant James was adjusting the settings on her Nati pulse rifle, the core and barrel glowing with a soft blue. Looking closer at the Sergeant, Young could see a pulse rifle of his own slung over his back while he wielded his G36 rifle.

"Sergeant, are we ready to move out?" Young asked, standing beside Volker's console, gazing at the Kino footage being displayed on the terminal. It showed a vast arid landscape, devoid of any life which seemed to go on forever.

"Yes sir, just give the word," Greer responded pointedly.

Nodding in response, the Colonel turned to Volker. "What are we looking at?"

"This is footage from one of the other two planets," Volker said briskly, navigating the Kino from his terminal. "I wanted to check out the viability of the other planets while waiting for you."

"What did you find?"

The scientist shook his head in disappointment. "Nothing useful. The first planet looks like it supports life, but the Stargate is trapped down at the bottom of a ravine. Just from two minutes of Kino surveillance I recorded several massive tremors, so I'm guessing the 'Gate is on a major fault line and has been falling down into the ravine."

"I petitioned that we definitely don't go to dangerous earthquake planet," Eli chimed in, sitting tiredly on the steps of the spiral staircase.

Volker nodded his head in complete agreement. "That would be my recommendation as well. I don't even think it's safe to send someone to retrieve the Kino."

"We can manage to lose one," Young assented.

"Right, well as you can see the third planet is just a desert. I haven't found anything yet, but I'll send the Kino off in search mode and check in later," Volker informed right as the Stargate shut down. The vents loudly puffed as the Stargate circled back to reset itself.

Young nodded and checked his weapon, moving off to join the expedition squad. "Alright you do that. If you find something useful you can send a small team." Volker acknowledged the order. "Dial up the first planet."

As the 'Gate started spinning and lining up its coordinates with the Gate bearing, Dr. Ryder awkwardly rushing into the room, her gear clearly weighing heavily on her. She stared at Young for a moment from the threshold before taking a few big steps to join the group. "Sorry I'm late Colonel. Wray only told me to get ready a couple minutes ago and I tried to suit up quickly so I wouldn't miss you and I just…"

"Doctor," Young said loudly to get her attention, stopped her rambling mid sentence. Her cheeks flushed red as she realized she had been speaking so fast-paced and awkwardly. "It's okay, you're right on time." She nodded quickly and stood next to Chloe, who gave her a sympathetic smile. Eli rose from the stairs and walked up to the doctor, also giving her a reassuring smile. The support seemed to help stabilize Ryder's anxiety.

The last chevron locked and the connection was established. The bearing remained lit up and the gate kawooshed. Once more the room was illuminated by the wormhole's glow. "Okay, we've got a stable connection," Volker informed. "The Kino is waiting for you by the Stargate on the other end."

"Alright, let's move out," Young said. Greer and James readied their weapons and were through the event horizon almost immediately. Chloe walked through with Ryder who was still calming herself down from her uncomfortable entrance. Eli pulled out his Kino remote and followed right behind them. Once only Young was left, he turned to Volker. "Contact us in one hour intervals. Have a Kino sled and another team on stand-by should we find anything worth salvaging."

"Understood Colonel. Happy hunting," Volker wished sincerely.

* * *

><p>Park lumbered down the corridor uncomfortably as she carried bags of equipment. In her left hand she had two backpacks bulging with seeds, and several narrow pipes were tucked under her left arm. She also had a heavy duffel bag that she was dragging slowly behind her with her free hand. As she took slow steps she lumbered along, groaning as the work was exhausting her.<p>

Voices interrupted her struggle, and within a moment TJ and Varro popped around a corner of the hallway in front of her. They were talking, but Park wasn't listening closely to what they were saying. As soon as they saw her pushing forward with the piles of equipment, TJ and Varro stopped their conversation and rushed up to Park.

"Lisa," TJ said as she took up all of the metal pipes from her, "what are you doing?" At the same time Varro pulled the heavy sack from Park and slung it effortlessly across his shoulder leaving her with just the backpacks.

The relief spread immediately across her face as she found herself able to breathe and she stood up straighter. "I was taking this to the garden. I was going to plant more seeds, set up another plot of land, and expand the irrigation systems."

Both TJ and Varro chuckled lightly. "Were you planning on doing that before or after you buried yourself under a pile of dirt and pipes?" Varro asked jokingly.

Grinning sheepishly, Park continued walking towards the dome chamber, with TJ and Varro following right behind. "Well no one was available in the cargo bay when I was getting supplies, and Ronald is offworld now, so I just figured I'd handle it on my own." They reached the door to the garden very quickly as they were able to move at a good speed with the weight divided.

"Well we'd love to help," TJ replied. "The infirmary has been quiet for the last couple of days so it seemed like a good time to go for a walk," she said looking up at Varro with a small grin. "It might be nice to spend out free time working on the garden."

Park threw on a quick smirk and turned to face the large door. She palmed the door chime and the heavy door slid open. The first noticeable change was the lighting. Since _Destiny_ was on approach to the local star, it really illuminated this chamber in comparison to any other room on the ship. Once everyone adjusted, they walked into the massive garden.

About a dozen different plots of land could be seen in the chamber. Empty storage crates were filled with top soil that had been recovered from missions, and pipes zigzagged across the floor carrying water around to all of the containers. Green sprouts were growing from most of the plots; some were just barely visible green pinpricks on the dark soil. Others already had stems growing up to a meter in height, and the beginnings of their leaves and fruits could be seen. Spaced randomly against the walls, there were several large canvases with tent poles lined up with them. There was a container at the far end of the room mostly filled with dirt and that was the one Park was heading to.

"You really have made a lot of progress down here in the last couple of months," TJ remarked, placing the bags by the container once they made their way to it. Varro opened the large bag he was carrying and found it was filled with dirt. He promptly began to pour it out into the container, filling it up to the top.

Park continued the conversation while she sifted through the soil and began planting seeds. "It's been a lot of work, but it's all been worth it. Getting the sprinklers deployed above the plots was a little tricky, but thankfully we found some creative ways to use the supplies we had. The hard part has been figuring out the winning combination of light and water for some of these plants. I've had to experiment with them in the hydroponics bay before I bother planting them here. So if we're in an area that's got too much light we need to set up cover to protect the sprouts." She pointed to the poles and canvas by the walls.

TJ looked around, admiring the work that had been put in to build all of this. "I guess this explains why I haven't seen much of you in the last few weeks," she said pointedly while beginning to plant seeds from the other end of the container.

Park was a bit startled by her comment, but swallowed and continued. "Well, lately it's been slow onboard, and we haven't come across anything worth investigating. I've had a lot of free time and this has been the best way for me to use it."

"You know you don't have to spend all of your time locked up here alone," TJ said sympathetically. She sighed and looked up to Varro who was leaning on the edge of one of the nearby containers. "How about this; like you've said, things are going slow here lately. We're not busy, so when we have a little available time we'll come down here and join you."

"Sounds like it could be fun and good exercise if today was any indication," Varro said getting a grin from both the women.

For the first time in a while, Park gave a genuine smile to them and nodded happily. "Yeah, that would be great."

"Okay, wonderful," the Lieutenant said, pleased she managed to turn Park's mood around. "Now, you," she said giving Varro a playfully severe look, "grab a handful of seeds and start planting."

* * *

><p>"How much further to the city?" Young asked Eli. The team was following the river to the city since it was one of the more direct and easy to follow routes. In addition to that, it felt like a hot summer day and the rushing water provided a way to cool down. The bright sun was right above their heads at this point.<p>

Eli checked his remote and gazed up at the sky where the Kino was hovering. He looked back down to the screen and tried to get his bearings. "I think we're getting close; we should reach the outskirts around this next bend," he said, pointing to a point in the river about two hundred meters ahead where it made a sharp turn to the left. They had been looking for any sign of the structures, but the surrounding forest was very tall and obscured the ruined city.

"Alright, we'll make our way into the city and split into two groups," Young said as they marched next to the water. "Hopefully between two teams we might be able to find something useful. Eli, you'll be with me and Sergeant Greer; we'll look for any salvageable technology. Lieutenant, I want you to take Chloe and Ryder and look for food, valuable minerals, and any clue as to what happened to the civilization here." Everyone acknowledged the orders.

"I wonder why there was nothing constructed by the Stargate," Ryder asked, trying to start a conversation as she was getting weary of just walking. "It just seems like the people here ignored it."

"That's not necessarily true," Chloe responded. "Without a dial home device the 'Gate would be useless to them. It's possible they regarded it like a monument or cultural site of a past civilization. Any signs that they had visited it could have been wiped away since the city was destroyed and it could have been forgotten by anyone else on the planet. I would agree that they didn't see it as anything important."

"As long as we don't find any disgruntled survivors of a war looking to kill anyone in their path, I'll be happy," Eli commented from further ahead. "Same goes for a legion of the undead, and rabid, evil monsters."

They proceeded in silence for a little while before Chloe found herself at the end of the team with Tabitha. She spent a moment to think before starting to talk. "So how have you been lately? I imagine life is a bit dull for you."

Ryder didn't answer at first, giving Chloe a short, nervous glance. "No, actually I've been keeping busy. One of my main focuses in research was planetary geology. Traveling from solar system to solar system has allowed me to see more in my field than I could possibly imagine. I just wish I could have more time with one celestial body. Just as I start to dig deep into one planet…" she paused and chuckled at herself, Chloe smiling as she say the scientist loosening up. "Pardon the word choice; it seems that we keep finding something new and amazing at every turn, and I don't know what I should pay attention to the most. It's a little overwhelming sometimes."

"It must be fulfilling though, at the end of the day to have learned so much," Chloe said, stooping down to run her hands through the cool water. She splashed her face before moving onwards.

"There's no doubt that it's amazing work and I'm thrilled to be doing it, but there's a piece of me that's upset I can't share my findings readily," she responded in a mellow voice. "Sure I can go back to Earth and write down a report there, but I just don't have the time or ability to take pages of data records with me across a stone connection to make it thorough and complete. I can't just write a paper and send it over. So much of the work we do out here doesn't make it back home, they just get a fragment of what we actually find out. And that really is a shame."

Chloe nodded, understanding where she was coming from and vaguely relating to her feelings. "It doesn't make what we do here any less important or amazing."

The scientist tried to put on a smile, but everyone was immediately snapped back to the mission at hand as Greer shouted from the head of the group. "I've got eyes on the city," he said. The Sergeant was about twenty meters further up from the two women and standing right where the river curved left. They hurried their pace to reach everyone else who was already standing there and looking on in awe.

The ruins of the city began almost immediately around the bend in the river. Green foliage grew on the outskirts and covered a great deal of the smaller piles of rubble. Roughly fifty meters further from their position there was a boardwalk from the beach that leads up to a courtyard overlooking the river.

"Alright, let's make our way up to that boardwalk," Young ordered, making his way to the head of the group. "From there we'll separate."

Before they could get ten meters the Colonel's radio went off. "Colonel Young, this is _Destiny. _Calling in for an update," Volker said.

Not slowing down, Young pushed his radio to talk. "Young here; we've just reached the city limits. We should be well into the city next check-in. How is everything on your end?"

"_Destiny_ is still on course for the star, no complications," he responded. "Colonel, I was checking over the footage I got and I think I found something you might be interested in."

At that sentence Young paused and looked around the group with curiosity. "Tell me what you got."

"There's an intact structure roughly two kilometers west of your current position. The best I can tell it is specially built to take a pounding. You might find something of interest there."

Young walked over to Eli and looked at the Kino remote. "I see it," Eli said, having zoomed in the image dramatically to show a simple one story compound. It was definitely in one piece and looked as if though it had been hidden within a warehouse of some sort; the exterior structure had collapsed and revealed this compound. "Looks like whoever built it was trying to keep it secret."

"Well if they were in a war it stands to reason they would build a bunker or some kind of safe house that the enemy couldn't find easily," Chloe continued, now standing over his shoulder and gazing at the display.

"And it wouldn't be a safe house if it didn't have supplies to survive the end of the world as you know it," Eli finished with a grin.

Nodding in response, Young started marching back to the boardwalk. "Copy on the intelligence _Destiny_, we're making our way there right now. Volker, send in a second team to this planet; put TJ in charge of it. We found a lot of edible plant life within the immediate vicinity of the Stargate. Have them gather as much food and water as possible."

"Understood Colonel," Volker said.

"Radio us again in the next check-in time, Young out," the Colonel said as he took his hand off of the radio switch and returned his attention to the team. They had reached the boardwalk and were halfway up to the courtyard. From here they had a decent view into the street level of the city. The streets were quite wide, and there were some supports that extended from the buildings which had large cables running between them. It indicated that the city had some sort of cable car system to facilitate transportation. Now that they were closer to the buildings, the team could tell that most of the structures were made from stone. While the material was not sophisticated, there were still some signs that the architecture displayed beauty and careful thought. Most of the patterns and art work had been worn out or destroyed by weapons damage unfortunately. An uncomfortable silence had settled into this massive city, and eerie shadows began to appear across the streets. Eli looked up at the sky and noticed the star was no longer above their heads but quickly moving off to the horizon.

"Looks like the sun is setting fast," Greer commented, noticing the same pattern that Eli had seen. "We've probably only got another hour or so of daylight."

"This planet must have a pretty short orbital period," Eli reckoned, continuing to gaze at the Kino remote for his bearings.

"I'd rather not get lost in the city at night," the Colonel said, stepping into the center of the courtyard and looking around the wreckage. Eli stopped next to him and did the same. "Let me see that," he asked, retrieving the remote from the scientist. He looked at the street layout for a moment before continuing. "Alright, slightly new plan; we're still splitting up, but we'll meet up at this structure on the other side of the city. Lieutenant, you'll take your team and go straight down this street, it looks like it'll take you right to this building." He pointed to a long, prominent road that led from the courtyard up to the other end of the city, running very close to the compound. Some signs of destruction were visible in the path, but it seemed pretty easy to travel. "While you're doing that, the Sergeant, Eli, and I will take the scenic route through this part of the city," he said, gesturing to an area that was densely populated with tall structures and minimal destruction. "It looks relatively undamaged; maybe we'll get lucky and find something."

With that the two groups parted and started off on their designated paths through the silent, dark city.

* * *

><p>Rush walked down the hallway into the Control Interface Room and found Brody already seated and working at one of the consoles. The holo-display was active and showed a detailed breakdown of the third planet in the solar system. Brody looked up from his console as Rush sat down at his own. "Find anything worth mentioning, Mr. Brody?" Rush asked as he brought up the telemetry of the planet on his station.<p>

"The outer planets we passed through were all gas giants," he started, continuing to survey the current planet. "I saw a couple of moons with some ore deposits, but they're not easy to reach. It's not worth sending a shuttle to retrieve them. The third planet has an atmosphere, but it's too far out from the habitable zone. Heavy snow storms and turbulent winds would probably be problematic for a shuttle."

"We should be able to replenish our water stores for the planet the Colonel is investigating anyways," Rush surmised, looking at the same telemetry. "There's no need to worry about that."

"Agreed," Brody said. The planet disappeared from the display and a few seconds later a new planet replaced it. "We're starting to pass by the second planet now, running preliminary scans."

New information scrolled across the holo-display and Rush's console. He read through it and picked out the highlights. "I'm reading two moons in orbit. There's no atmosphere on either of the moons and there is nothing outstanding about their composition," he said as the scans focused on the closer moon.

"The planet has an atmosphere, and I'm detecting extensive plant growth across most of the land surface. Water bodies make up approximately fifty-three percent of the surface," Brody said with interest, carefully observing the varying climates across the planet. "There's forests, deserts, plains; enough varying ecosystems to support diverse life forms."

While staring at the telemetry, Rush began to furrow his brow. "That's odd; I'm picking up a heavy concentration of metal from the far moon, but… it's not coming from the lunar surface," he said suddenly interested in this planet. "It looks like there's something in low orbit of the moon."

Brody retargeted the sensors to get a closer look. The holo-display zoomed in to show only the far moon, which from this angle was partly obscured by the planet. As _Destiny_ continued moving towards the center of the star system the image grew in more detail. Within a few seconds, a blurry dot became visible orbiting around the moon. "I've got a contact. There's something out there." He tapped a set up buttons and once more the image on the holo-display changed. Now it showed only the silhouette of the object. It was a massive cube sitting above the moon. Large tendrils could be seen reaching from the surface of the moon and rising up to the structure. Details were being added as the object was being picked up better on the sensors. "My God, it measures ten kilometers long in all dimensions."

"That's definitely an artificial structure, a space station of some kind. Those look like space elevators," Rush said as he analyzed the incoming data with great interest. "I'm not detecting any EM signature coming from it. That must be why we didn't see it right away."

"It looks like all of the systems are offline, there's no radiation or power spikes coming from it," the other scientist announced, reaffirming the analysis Rush had already provided. "It looks abandoned."

Tapping his fingers on the console for a moment, Rush switched the sensors to the planet. It was a few seconds before he spoke again. "There's no pollution, radiation, or electrical signals coming from the planet's surface to indicate an advanced civilization."

"So who built it?" Brody asked aloud, staring at the holo-display as he turned the sensors back on the station.

At that comment Rush took a deep breath, preparing a remark when something on the image on the object caught his eye. He quickly enhanced a section of the station. "Well I suppose that answers one question," he said as he gazed at a smooth section of hull that was decorated with constellation patterns and some blocky text directly beneath it. The Nati adornments were impossible to mistake.

"I wonder what they were doing out here," Brody wondered, ignoring the new data and just staring at the display.

Rush did the same for a moment, and finally rose from his seat. He stood in front of the display. "I don't know… but thankfully we know someone who might." With that he gave Brody a quick look and marched out of the Room.

* * *

><p>The monitors on the Bridge descended, initially showing basic information on the ship. A second later a panel opened in the floor and a Kino was deployed. Rush sat in the center chair as Brody set up the communication systems. "Link is established; patching in the feed."<p>

With that the displays went dark. Then they lit up and showed Kalin, sitting at a console in a Nati lab of some sort. Many consoles and individuals could be seen in the background, working on various tasks. Kalin himself looked as if though he had been in the middle of a challenging task when he had been called. He was clearly startled, but very happy to see his former crewmates contacting him. On the positive side, he looks significantly healthier from when they left him in the care of the insurgents. Most of the scarring had receded and he seemed to be mobile. "Doctor Rush, it's good to speak with you. I wasn't expecting anyone to call for an update for another two days." His demeanor was cheerful, but did betray some concern.

He paused before going on, and decided to forego any pleasantries. "Yes, well, it would seem we're in need of your help with a curious matter."

All it took was that simple statement to pull Kalin into a serious demeanor. "What can I do for you?"

"I realize it might be a long shot, but I was wondering if you might be able to provide us with some information," he said, tapping a few keys on the arm console of his chair. "I'm transmitting data on a station of Nati origin. We'd like to know what we might be dealing with before proceeding."

Kalin nodded with interest as the data came through on his end. He gazed at a console to his right. "Give me a moment to cross-reference this station through our database." After he spoke, he rose and walked with a noticeable limp to a terminal at the other end of the room. He exchanged some words with one of his colleagues, but without the translator Rush didn't understand anything the Nati officer said. After about a minute Kalin returned. "I have some information about the station you found, but unfortunately it's quite limited," he said in an apologetic tone.

"Anything you have would be useful," Rush insisted.

"Of course, I'll send over the intelligence we have on it," Kalin said. He moved to a terminal to his side, and in a few moments the communication station in the back of the Bridge beeped.

"I've got the files," Brody infirmed. He displayed some of the information on the rightmost monitor. Rush ignored it for the moment.

"According to the information we have, this is a deep space outpost," said Kalin, reading off of his terminal. "The insurgents managed to get a covert scan of it about eight months ago; that's where all the intelligence we have on this outpost comes from."

Brody spoke up from the back, slightly confused. "Wait, it's not in the Nati military database?"

"That's correct. The insurgents heard rumors that the outpost was a site for experimental weapons design, kept secret from most of the military and government channels." One of Kalin's colleagues interrupted him and handed him a tablet. Kalin took a moment to read over the information, and afterwards he turned his attention back to Rush. "I just read the report filed by the commander of the intelligence gathering mission. It was his best guess that the Nati were using this outpost as a staging ground with which they would expand into nearby sectors of space. He was convinced that a massive shipyard was contained within the outpost."

"It makes sense," Brody interjected, taking this opportunity to move up closer to Rush and into the frame of the Kino. "The outpost has space elevators to the moon; there was probably a mining operation on the surface and they sent raw materials up to the station."

Rush sighed and leaned back in the chair, caught up in his thoughts. "It still doesn't make sense why it would be kept so secret, or placed in this solar system."

"Unfortunately I don't have those answers," Kalin lamented. "I would recommend extreme caution however; the report indicates the outpost is heavily guarded and the commander could only spend a short time in the system without being detected. The insurgency felt they never had the proper fleet strength to approach this facility."

Both the scientists exchanged confused looks with each other. Rush turned back to Kalin first. "Kalin… the outpost is completely deserted. There's no sign of any active Nati presence in the system."

The Novus scientist was equally surprised at their statement, and remained silent for a few seconds to let that sink in. Finally he let out an 'hmm' of interest. "I'll admit Dr. Rush; at this point you've really piqued my curiosity. By any chance do you have plans to investigate?" he asked with a little smile.

"It had crossed my mind," Rush admitted in a plain manner.

Kalin held his smile and gave a nod to Rush. He looked solemnly back onto the _Destiny_ Bridge. "I miss being there," he said following a moment's pause. "It was a good life I had there, and I miss the fun of exploring."

"Well," Rush started, slightly taken aback by Kalin's frankness, "I'll make sure to pass along any information we find onto you. Maybe you could find some use from it."

"Of course, Dr. Rush," Kalin said, pleased at the offer. "I wish you luck and safety."

Nodding his head in response, Rush rose from the chair. "Thank you for your help, _Destiny _out." He looked over to Brody who took a second to get the message. He quickly returned back to the communication station and terminated the link. The Kino quickly receded to its hiding place in the floor and the feed to Kalin ended. Rush spent the next minute staring at the schematics still flashing on the right monitor. Finally, he figured he had learned everything about it that he could. "Mr. Brody, would you have Varro and Lieutenant Scott find me in the suiting chamber?" he asked as he began to leave the Bridge.

Brody stared at him with a blank expression. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I am equipping myself with a space suit so I don't suffocate, implode, and freeze when I step onto a space station devoid of life support," he snapped back as he passed Brody.

"You're just going to leave right now? Don't you think you should inform the Colonel about your plans?!" he responded loudly, following the insistent scientist out into the hallway.

"I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem with it," Rush answered, stopping a few steps outside the Bridge. "I would appreciate it if you prepared the Nati shuttle for launch." And with that he quickly walked off to the elevator.

* * *

><p>"Say again, you found a what?" Young asked incredulously, pausing to stand atop a tall pile of rubble. From here he had a good vantage point to see a whole lot of nothing in the ruins. Eli and Greer were below him, rummaging through and empty structure that looked like some kind of storage center.<p>

"There's a derelict Nati space station orbiting a moon of the second planet," Brody repeated over the radio, his voice slightly agitated. It didn't seem to be directed towards Young though, and that slightly befuddled him. "We're not detecting any signs of life or active power systems."

Young sighed and continued to gaze off to the horizon as the sun was setting quickly. "And you want to go take a look around?" he asked. There was a delay as Brody carefully chose his words. The Colonel shook his head as he took a guess as to the reason. "Rush is already out the door, isn't he?"

"Pretty much," Brody admitted sheepishly. "He's suited up and waiting in the shuttle. Lieutenant Scott and Varro are holding him back though; they're waiting for your orders."

He chuckled aloud to himself and stared straight to the colorful sunset. "Predictable bastard," he mumbled. He pushed down on the radio again. "What's your best appraisal of the situation? Is it worth checking out?"

"I'm not seeing anything on the station that looks dangerous," Brody said, pausing as he was undoubtedly checking the data on his end. "The defense systems are definitely off-line, so it should be safe to explore. As for what we could find; if the insurgent intelligence is reliable and this was a shipyard, we could found a lot of materials that could be used on _Destiny_. We're in good shape right now, but it's nice to think about the future sometimes."

With the sun departing below the top of the forest, the city crept into partial darkness. The primary illumination came from a moon that was settled high in the sky. Young carefully climbed down the pile of rubble and turned on the flashlight on the barrel of his rifle. "Alright, tell the Lieutenant they are cleared to go. On the first sign that something is going wrong they're to return to _Destiny_."

"Understood Colonel."

"Keep me apprised of his progress, Young out." He reached the street level and made his way through the wide entrance to the building. Greer and Eli were searching through some wooden crates that were sprawled all across the floor. "Find anything?"

Greer shined his flashlight over a dozen empty crates and finally turned back to the Colonel. "There's nothing here, sir. Everything's been emptied a long time ago."

"Most likely the survivors of the city took everything of value before they moved on," Eli said, joining the others.

"Fine, let's move on to meet up with the other group." He returned outside with Eli and Greer right behind him. "Where do we go from here, Eli?"

He took out the remote from his vest pocket and squinted at it. The Kino footage was pretty dark as the moon didn't provide much light for it to pick up. Eli switched to an infrared setting which showed two groups of warm dots. They were separated by only a small distance. The team led by James was positioned next to a patch of the city that varied from the rest of the city. "We need to go forward seven more blocks, and then go right for five blocks. That should lead us to the compound. It looks like Lieutenant James is already there."

Young began moving immediately, holding a fast pace as he didn't want to out in the night for too long. He pushed down on his radio. "Lieutenant, what's your position?" he asked, just to confirm Eli's assumption.

The response came a few seconds later. "My team just reached the target structure. We'll remain put until you arrive, sir."

"Copy that; we're closing in right now. We should be there in about ten minutes." Shining his light ahead of him, the street seemed relatively clear of any obstructions, so he stood by his estimate.

* * *

><p>"Understood Colonel Young; unfortunately we didn't find anything on our way here," James said into her radio, pointing her flashing light at one of the surviving buildings. About five stories of it had survived but after that it had jagged edges from where it had been blown up. Most of the remaining stone structure was holding together, but virtually all of the windows had been broken through. Some shards of glass that had remained intact reflected the light back at her, but there was nothing impressive left about any of the structures.<p>

"Same goes for us. Hopefully we'll have better luck at the compound; Young out." The line phased to static quickly and James released her radio.

Chloe walked past her and approached the intact structure. It clearly had been hidden from casual observation inside an average looking building; the rubble from the enclosing building was everywhere, and partially buried the opposite end of the metal structure. The compound itself was relatively small. It only stood one story tall and was about twenty meters long in length and width. There were no windows or openings that allowed anyone to see inside other than a door at the front which was wide open. Unfortunately, it was pitch black inside, and Chloe couldn't see anything other than a hallway as she pointed her flashlight inside. "This place looks as lifeless as the rest of the city."

"Guess no one got a chance to use it," James guessed, moving in closer to the entrance.

Finally, Dr. Ryder walked up and joined them. She was starting to shiver in the cold night. "That doesn't make sense though. The rest of the city has been plundered completely. Why wouldn't then take shelter in here?"

Watching her shiver, Chloe wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't know. Maybe they exhausted the supplies here and left as well?" James shrugged in response and moved back out to the street so she could keep an eye out for the Colonel's team.

Tabitha sat down on the ground and looked around the ruins. "Isn't it strange we haven't found a single body? I haven't seen as much as a bone or anything that could give us a clue as to who lived here."

"I've had a strange feeling about this place ever since we entered the city," Chloe consented slowly. "Maybe it's the emptiness; it's almost as if though the inhabitants left before the city was attacked."

"Maybe they knew an attack was coming and used the early notice to escape?" At this point Ryder stopped shivering as she put a lot of her mind on these ideas.

"Then why wouldn't they stay and defend their homes?" She paced around the patch of undisturbed ground and thought intently. "I kind of hope we find some answers in there. It feels kind of silly to say so, but I really want to know. We'll only be on the planet for another day or so, and that'll be it. After that we can just forget about it, and still, I just want to know what happened." She grinned lightly and sat down on the ground opposite of Ryder.

For the next several minutes the three of them waited in silence. Finally, James called from the street. "I see them." Chloe rose and walked out to the street to join the Lieutenant. One block to the right there were three dots of light moving fast.

A moment later Young was at James' side and stared at the complex. "Well, let's take a look. We've already wasted hours on nothing." He sighed and gestured to the passageway. "Sergeant, take point. Lieutenant, take up the rear. The rest of you stay in the middle and don't touch anything.

"What if I find the light switch?" Eli asked as he stared grimly at the dark interior of the complex.

Young paused at the threshold and looked seriously at the young man. "Don't. Touch. Anything," he said, holding steady for a few seconds and then loosening his demeanor, "without alerting me first." Eli swallowed hard and nodded in quick, short jerks.

With all of their flashlights pointing into the hallway, the team started to move into the complex. The main hallway ran about two-thirds the length of the complex and had two doors, one on either side of the hallway. There was also a locked door at the opposite end of the hallway. The door on the left was closed, and upon closer inspection betrayed no weakness or lock. Looking to the other side, the door on the right was wide open.

"I guess that narrows our choice," Ryder said, talking so as to help with her anxiety.

Young turned to look at her and held the gaze for a few seconds. He realized he didn't really know much about her and had only gone offworld with her a couple of times. Trying to soften his countenance, he nodded in the direction of the open door. "Let's go take a look."

Greer walked in first with Young right behind him. This room was even darker than the hallway which at least had the benefit of some light coming from the entrance to the building. At first he didn't see anything other than the smooth metal floor, but finally his light found a row of terminals along the wall.

With a light hum the Kino flew through the doorway and startled everyone. The Sergeant pivoted quickly and aimed his weapon at the floating camera. He sighed loudly and pointed his light at Eli, giving him a sour expression. "Sorry, I just thought we should document what we find." Lowering his weapon, Greer resumed his search.

Young slowly walked up to the terminals and inspected them closely. Eli took a look as well. "What do you make of it?"

"Well they clearly were a technologically sophisticated society," he started off, shining his flashlight to get a look at more of the equipment. "I'd say their technology is on par with Earth of twenty years ago, but that's just a guess. Without turning things on I really don't know." He moved across from station to station until he found something that piqued his curiosity. "Hello there."

The console he was looking at had most of the same features as the others he had seen, excepting for a large lever that dominated the right part of it. "That looks important," James said.

Eli nodded in agreement. "Yeah, if video games have taught me anything, it's that giant switches, buttons, and levers tend to turn things on." He turned to look at Young. "It's worth a try."

Sighing, Young gave him approval, gesturing to the lever. "Fine, go ahead."

He held his flashlight up and checked the rest of the console if there was anything useful. Convinced there was nothing else he could use, Eli firmly grasped the handle of the lever. Taking a deep breath, he prepared to raise it. "Okay, here goes nothing." With a tug, he brought it from its lowered state all the way to the top of the console.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then there was a dull thud and clank that was heard far below them. It resonated up through the ground and finally some of the computer systems started to turn on. The light panels in the ceiling activated, helping to illuminate the room. A low hum filled the room as the equipment generated noise. Just as the complex powered up, several power surges moved through and caused a row of computers at the back wall to erupt in a sea of sparks. The ceiling lights in that part of the room also began to flicker intensely. All of the civilians cringed as this was happening while the military personnel watched on, noticing there was no immediate danger.

Very quickly the room settled in peace and the team was able to look around and see everything with relative ease. The center of the room was left completely devoid of any equipment or furniture. Instead, everything was lined up against the wall. Monitors were fixed into the walls above wide tables, and terminals filled in the rest of the space. Each terminal had a small screen fixed into the left side, and the rest of it was filled with various push buttons, most inscribed with characters in the alien language. Some data appeared on the monitors populating the walls, but after a few lines of strange boxy glyphs flew across the screen they all went dark.

Eli looked around the room, interested in the function of this place but clearly not impressed. Now that the room was properly illuminated, it was clear that a thick film of dust covered every surface, showing how long it had been abandoned.

"Now what do we do?" Greer asked, noticing that really nothing had been accomplished.

"What's that over there?" Ryder inquired, pointing to a terminal up to the front of the room. The screen on the left of the terminal displayed video footage instead of data like the other terminals. Eli approached it and took a quick glance at it. "Wait; is that the locked door outside?"

"Sergeant," Eli said, gesturing to the hall while not looking up from the screen, "could you walk out into the hall?"

He cooperated and walked outside, standing by the locked door. With the lights on in the hallway, he now saw what looked like a gap in the ceiling, right where the video was positioned.

"This must have been a security checkpoint for entrance into the rest of the facility," James vocalized from the center of the room. As she looked at the damaged consoles at the back of the room, she noticed scorch marks around the walls and floor. "I'd also be willing to guess that the war found its way into here."

Eli stared at the console for a while without avail. Finally he looked up and gestured to Chloe. "I bet it's a long shot, but does their language make any sense to you?"

She sighed unconfidently and walked up to his console. First she blew on the console, removing as much obstructing dust as possible. Around half a minute later, she let out a small gasp of realization. "These look like pictographs." She pointed to one of the symbols located above a button. It was a large rectangle with a smaller rectangle sitting against the left side. On the right side there were double arrows filling the space. "That could represent a door."

He gazed up at her with an incredulous expression. "That sounds conveniently obvious."

"Well, a door is a door," Chloe reasoned, speaking quickly while consciously trying not to be condescending. "Their technology is somewhat similar to ours, so it stands to reason that if their language is based on pictorial representations the symbols would include various static and dynamic characteristics of the object in question. In this case a door opening and closing." She said it all in one long breath and left Eli wide-eyed.

"Okay then, you win." He turned to the Colonel who had been watching silently from a meter away. "I guess it's your call."

"We're already here," he said pointedly. "We might as well see what this is all about."

With a nod, Eli turned back to the terminal. He reached and pushed down the button associated with the door pictograph. There was silence for a second, and then a chirp resonated from speakers across the room. After that a loud clang was hear outside of the room.

"Sir," Greer called from the hallway, "the door's opening up."

The whole team left the control room and met up in the hall. The door opened onto a stairwell that descended quickly into an underground portion of the facility. James stepped forward and looked around. There was a railing that provided safety from the edge, and the Lieutenant peered over the rails. She cast her light down as the rest of the team joined up.

"Whoa," Eli gasped as he looked at the massive complex below him. There were large modules that filled the space and catwalks that ran across between them. It was an entire interconnected mess, and based on the modular design it was meant to be an adaptable facility. "Welcome to Aperture Science," he mumbled. The lights continued to turn on throughout the complex and revealed the cave to continue for a long way in what would be the direction away from the city.

"Well, let's take a look around." Young went first down the stairs which seemed to go on for a long time until they reached a catwalk that joined two large modules.

* * *

><p>The shuttle flew by the second planet on its way to the station. All three of the occupants were dressed in space suits but for the moment chose not to wear the stuffy helmets. Their gear was sitting on the built in seats on the port side of the cockpit. Scott rotated the shuttle so the planet seemed to be above them, and as he gently glided the craft through space, he took a moment to admire the beautiful landscape. "That's a hell of a sight."<p>

Varro gazed up from the co-pilot's seat next to the Lieutenant. He nodded in silent agreement and returned his attention to his station. "We're coming into visual range of the outpost now."

Over the edge of the planet the moon was already half visible. At this moment the star was behind them, so everything was well illuminated for all to see. A few seconds after Varro spoke, the outpost crept into view, sliding out from behind the planet. It quickly began to dominate the vista, protruding like a great blemish on the face of the moon.

"Rush, get on the sensors. I need an approach vector," the Lieutenant ordered.

The scientist was already seated at the science terminal, reading off data on the outpost. "The space doors to the interior are closed. I don't see a maintenance entrance or shuttle bay. They must have just the one way to get inside." He sighed as his scans continued. "Hang on, there's a transceiver assembly thirty meters port of the space doors."

"What about it?" Scott asked as he began to slow the shuttle down. They had passed by the planet and were getting closer to the outpost. It was already filling up the viewport even though they were over a hundred kilometers away.

"Well, it stands to reason that there must be some way to open the doors from the outside." He executed a precise scan on the location in question and announced his findings. "I believe that this assembly will activate if give a proper signal. It should power up the space doors and open them."

"I imagine that the Nati shuttle should have some activation codes for their outposts," Varro speculated, craning his head to look at Rush.

"That was my thought as well." He swiveled in his seat to the terminal to his right and searched through the database, momentarily discovering what he needed. "I have access to the Nati communication protocols. I'm hoping that they work on a universal setting for all Nati outposts."

The hum from the shuttle's engines died down as Scott brought it nearly to a dead stop. They were sitting about two kilometers away from the space door. The doors were massive, quite possibly almost a kilometer wide. Off in the right corner of the view there was an outcropping in which antennas and satellites sat. Scott tapped a button on his console. "_Destiny_, this is Lieutenant Scott."

The line was static for a little bit until a response came. "Brody here."

"We've arrived at the target and are holding position outside the entrance. Doctor Rush believes he can use Nati communication protocols to open the doors. Just thought we would give you an update on our status," Scott informed as he fired the thrusters to match the orbital velocity of the station.

"Understood; I should warn you that we're entering the star's corona soon. Magnetic fields from this star are pretty intense so we'll most likely lose communications until we're out of the star," he stated, the transmission coming through slightly garbled already.

"Copy that, we'll do our best not to get into trouble. See you on the other side; Scott out." He shut off the comm line and turned to look back towards Rush. "Okay 'doc, what do you say we let ourselves in?"

Rush began typing commands into his console. "I've matched the frequency for the transceiver assembly; sending the activation sequence… now."

They stared at the unmoving doors for a while before Scott looked back to the scientist. "Nothing's happening out there."

"Yes, thank you; I can see that," he replied, annoyed at the comment. He looked back to the sensor station. "I'm detecting increased power output from within the outpost. It must take a while for it to power up."

As Scott and Rush were talking, Varro never took his eyes off of the station. Almost right after Rush was done talking, a series of lights flashed to life around the door. "There," he said, nodding his head in the direction of the doors. The lights flashed in a pattern, operating like a runway directing ships towards the door. "I think the door's opening."

With everyone's attention fixed on it, the door began to open on cue. A vertical gap opened up in the middle as the doors slowly made their way to the edge of the threshold. Inside it was pitch black dark at the moment, as the station didn't seem to be fully operational. Once the doors reached about thirty meters open, they came to a full stop. "What happened Rush?"

"They ran a passive scan on us when we sent the code," he answered, looking over sensor logs. "I suppose it's possible they only opened the door as wide as they felt was necessary for a shuttle. The station is running on minimal power; they might be optimizing operations."

"Okay, I'm taking us in." The shuttle lurched forward as he began to accelerate the craft, quickly closing the distance to the space doors. "Rush, stay on sensors and tell me what you see inside. Varro, give me some lights." As he finished talking, the shuttle passed between the partially opened doors with plenty of space on either side. Scott paid attention to the fact the doors were at least five meters thick. "This place was definitely built to take a beating. The insurgent fleet could fire on this position for a while without any progress."

"All the more reason to wonder why the Nati left," Varro said, articulating the Lieutenant apprehension. He tapped a few keys on his console and brought the spotlights online.

The crack in the door illuminated a small stretch down the center of the outpost, but there was nothing impressive for the first several kilometers. There were long pipes that seemed to travel the length of the whole outpost, and some cables and elevators that were designed to transport supplies around. Now, in its inactive state, the lifts were hanging motionless on cables all over the facility. Once the shuttle's lights came on, they first shone on a spot below the craft. It was a facility that sat about forty meters above the ground with two thick, insulated tubes connecting it to the floor. Several bridges went off in various directions, most likely connecting to other important locations.

"I believe that area is a transport hub," Rush said as he stared at his sensor terminal. "It's connected to one of the space elevators. They likely had mining operations and delivered their supplies straight to the facility. The command center must be further along."

Scott turned the shuttle port and followed one of the bridges which seemed to run in that direction for a long time. "Let's take a look around then."

They were flying about two kilometers off of the floor, but found very little in the outpost. Every half a kilometer there were massive columns that went from the floor all the way to the top of the outpost. Each column had large mechanical arms that looked akin to those the Nati cruisers are equipped with. At the moment they were all inactive and resting against their post. The bridge Scott was following went on and on; it intersected with several columns along the way, most likely as a way to better connect the facility. "I can't imagine how much time and resources they had to put into this place," Varro said softly, as he set one of the spotlights to search to the starboard of the shuttle. He still found nothing of interest. "Only to pack up everything and just leave?"

"Perhaps not everything," Rush muttered from his station, only partially listening to his crewmates.

"What do you got for me?" Scott asked, glancing back at the doctor, if only to get a break from the repetitive vista.

"There's definitely a large structure, or several structures ahead of us," he said vaguely, not quite certain of what he was looking at himself. "No power or heat signature emanating from it, but… it might be a ship. It's dead ahead, eighteen hundred meters."

Varro shifted the spotlights from the bridge they were tracking to directly in front of the shuttle. The light didn't show too much, but it was clear they were reaching the starboard edge of the station. There were significantly more columns and crossing bridges in this area. Robotic arms were suspended from support beams all over the place and storage pods populated the area as they clung to docking ports across the columns. "Shift the light starboard sixteen degrees," Rush suggested as he also noticed there was nothing to see.

Complying with the advice, the lights panned across to the right, sweeping over metal bars everywhere. A moment later, the light hit something else, a sleek shape sitting inside of a group of columns and metal arms. It didn't take anyone long to recognize the shape as the nose of a Nati cruiser. It rested peacefully in a docking berth, connected to the station by a dozen docking clamps. As the light continued over the rest of the ship, it became quickly obvious that this ship was in the early phase of being built. While the front had most of its hull in place, the rest of the ship had its framework exposed to space. "Holy crap," Scott uttered, slowing the shuttle down so he could get a good look at the incomplete cruiser.

"The records on this outpost did indicate this was a shipyard," Varro commented, not too impressed at the sight in front of him. "The entire length of this station could have berths for constructing ships. Anything we saw towards the center might be refueling and repairing stations. I doubt they would want to fill this place up with ships to the point they couldn't move around."

"It's certainly plausible," Rush agreed from the back. "They could have enough berths here to work on dozens of ships at the same time. If the Nati were planning an incursion into the next sector of space, they would want as large a fleet as possible."

"That ship, over there!" Varro exclaimed, pointing to a ship to the right of the current cruiser. It had a different framework, this time more circular design, but still familiar to the _Destiny_ crew. "Isn't that the hunter ship with the phase-shifting technology?"

"Aye, and I for one am very glad they didn't finish more of them," Rush commented as he recalled the trouble one of them caused.

The Lieutenant pulled the shuttle back to get a better field of view. Varro also scanned around the wall with the light and looked over more than two dozen berths. There were eleven ships in this pocket of the station; all of them in various stages of construction. Some were only partially finished frames, while others looked almost complete and probably only needed interior work. Everyone in the shuttle stared at the sight, slightly intimidated at the sheer number of enemy ships that this place could produce.

"Alright then; we've gazed, and I'm amazed. Now maybe we can find the command center?" Scott asked.

Rush nodded and looked back down to his console. "Those bridges seem to connect all the vital areas in the facility. Most likely if we follow them back we'll eventually run across the central hub of the station."

"Right, all roads lead to Rome," he stated, bringing the shuttle down and looking for the bridge that he had followed before.

"What?" Varro inquired, being unfamiliar with the expression.

Scott turned to look at his co-pilot and chuckled. "It's just a saying back on Earth. Basically these bridges will show us the path to the center of the station." As he spoke the shuttle was already gliding high above a bridge on its way to the original hub they saw. The light from the opening in the door came through brilliantly and lit up their destination.

"An expression based in historical fact," Rush interjected lazily from his post, "since all roads in the Roman Empire, either directly or indirectly, did lead back to Rome. A concept that the surviving Ancients most likely introduced to the Romans to better organize their empire."

Listening to him, Scott rolled his eyes and continued to hold his course steady. Very soon they reached the hub connected to the space elevator they had started at. From it he turned left, following it down to the center of the station. He flew a lot closer to the floor this time than he did before, looking more closely at the details on the ground level. Most of it was covered in pipes or exhaust vents. There were portholes located throughout the place, all looking into the dark interior sections of the station. Overall, there wasn't a part of the station that didn't have some feature that made it busy and cluttered. "This place must've been something to see when it was fully operational," he thought aloud. "Shuttles flying around, ships being built; it would have to be alive with action."

"There's a structure ahead of us," Rush interrupted, his tone betraying his annoyance at the conversations. "I'm reading multiple connecting bridges, and most of the power conduits link up at this location."

From this distance the module was visible, but it didn't look too impressive from three kilometers away. Once they were a few hundred meters from the center, it looked more important. It was built into the floor of the base and rose straight up for at least two hundred meters. Bridges intersected it from all four sides, and pipes and tubes ran along the lower part of the building. Clearly it was a power and command center for the facility. Just like the rest of the outpost however, it was very dark, with no signs of life emanating from it.

A short chirp came from Rush's console. "I'm detecting a docking port for shuttles three levels above the connecting bridges. We should be able to make our way into the command center through there."

The spotlight tilted up, showing a level that had a large landing platform hanging off of the edge of the building. On the surface there were multiple empty pads for a shuttle to land on, with circular doors leading into the compound. Scott raised the ship up a few meters, and stopped it right in front of one of the pads. Then he spun it around and gently lowered it, using the docking sensors to properly line up the doors. The shuttle touched down with a bump, and the engines went silent as Scott powered down the craft. He rose from his seat and moved to get his helmet. "Suit up."

Varro was at his side immediately, placing his helmet over his head and twisting it until it clicked into place. He pulled a Nati pulse rifle from the weapons rack by the cockpit door. Scott did the same, and they both waited a moment for Rush to secure his helmet. First he fixed a Nati translation device to his temple, and then put on his helmet. "It's just a precaution," he said as he got quizzical glances from the two military personnel. After that he moved back to the science station. "I'm venting the atmosphere from the shuttle." He tapped a few keys, and then the shuttle hissed for a few seconds as the air was drained from the interior.

Very quickly, the craft was left in an eerie silence. Everyone activated the communicators in their suits. Scott walked to the back of the storage area in the shuttle, and palmed the lock. There was a second delay before the door complied and slid open, revealing the locked door on the station.

"There should be no power to the magnetic locks," Rush said as he joined them in the back of the shuttle. "It should be fairly easy to force open."

Scott looked up at him with a tired expression. "If it's so easy, you open it then." When Rush didn't move, he nodded slowly back at him. "That's what I thought. Varro, you get that side." He grabbed onto the right door while Varro grabbed the lip of the left door. Straining, they both began to pull towards to door's frame. Their struggling came through loudly on the communicator, and a moment later their work was rewarded as the door parted and they could get a better grasp on the door. Soon there was enough room for a person to pass through.

Turning on the flashlight that was taped to his rifle, Scott walked into the station, with Varro and Rush right behind him. As soon as the stepped out of the shuttle, they left the gravity field that was generated by the craft. They floated a little bit off of the floor before slowly returning to the ground.

"The outpost is fairly close to the surface of the moon, and scans did indicate it has a dense core," Rush surmised, as he activated his magnetic boots. "We'll have partial gravity until we can reestablish the station's own gravity field." Scott nodded in response and proceeded out of the airlock, turning on his own magnetic boots.

The inner door to the airlock was already open so they proceeded into the hallway. It was the same polished silver metal that formed a typical Nati base. There were few outstanding features as the interior design was based on smoothness and cleanness. "Where do we go from here?"

Rush pushed through the two of them and started off down the right passageway. "During my scan of this building I found what I believe to be their control room. It was five levels above us, at the top of the building." He stopped by a ladder that was inset in an alcove down the hallway. "This should run all the way to the top." Scott grabbed his arm as Rush started to climb.

"Hang on, let me go first," he insisted.

"I appreciate the concern, Lieutenant," Rush responded, somewhat irritated, "but there is nothing dangerous here to be worried about."

"You're probably right, but I'm still going first." He stared sternly at the scientist, which didn't do much because he couldn't see much through the pale blue light from the interior of the helmet. Rush sighed but took a step back. With that, Scott slung the rifle over his shoulder and started the climb. Looking down he could see it went down to the base of the building.

As soon as there was enough room for another person, Rush got onto the ladder and followed right below Scott. Varro took up the bottom and made the climb. It was slow work climbing in the space suits since moving in clunky armor wasn't easy. They reached the top in a few minutes and exited on the top level.

There was a wide hallway on this level, about thirty meters long. One side was covered in windows which looked on in the direction of the space doors. The doors were several kilometers away at this point, so the light that came through was very small and insignificant, leaving most of the station in total darkness. On the other wall there were three doors evenly spaced across the distance. The central door was the largest, and most likely led to the control room. The two other doors were smaller and might have been offices or some less essential control site. Scott lumbered over to the largest door, not being able to move too fast with the magnetic boots. Once they reached it, he gestured for Varro to help him again. This time, they were able to easily open the door since it was not an airlock door.

The expedition team walked into the control room which was just as dark as anywhere else on this station. Rush looked around, passing his flashlight from console to console. He moved over to a set of terminals along the right wall. It took him a moment to glance over the writing and setup before he spoke. "I should be able to restart the station's generator from here."

"Maybe we should inspect the generator before turning it on," Varro cautioned. "It could be rigged to detonate."

"If the Nati didn't want this station to fall into the wrong hands, I'm sure they would have destroyed it before they left," Rush said snidely, shining his light back at Varro. "I am willing to admit that the circumstances around this station being abandoned here are curious, but the only way I can figure out why that is, is by accessing their main computer. To do that, I need power. I find it highly unlikely that the Nati, a race that we have observed will gladly fire on a ship without a warning, would allow someone to get this far without already trying a dozen times to kill us. So, since we're not dead yet, I see no danger in continuing to explore this outpost." He actually managed to speak mildly and convincingly, which made Varro agree with him and surrender his point.

Scott also agreed with his logic. "Go ahead Rush."

The scientist turned back to the terminal he focused on earlier, and pushed a single button on the terminal. Within a few seconds, that console turned on, the screen lighting up and the buttons glowing as well. It wasn't much light, but it created an atmospheric glow which filled that side of the room. He placed his flashlight on the top of the console, watching it float a few centimeters from the surface before settling back down. The console had an identical layout to the systems he had observed on the insurgent ships, and thankfully he had taken plenty of time to become familiar with their systems. He expertly accessed the command routines and brought up the power systems. The display showed the core that sat at the bottom of this tower in its current inactive state. With a few commands, he brought the core online. A moment later, all the other consoles devoted to the engineering systems turned on. They displayed information on power flow, input and output, distribution, core stability, radiation monitors and other vital data related to the power systems.

Next, Rush moved over to the terminal that controlled the rate of power output and its distribution. "I'm only going to power up the essential systems; life support, gravity, the main computer, just to minimize the chances of any hiccups in the power grid." He slowly increased the power generation of the core up to thirty percent and left it there for the moment.

The first thing that everyone noticed was the sudden return of gravity. With the system restored, they stood firmly on the ground, no longer bobbing after every step. Everyone proceeded to deactivate the magnetic boots. Then they slowly became aware of a hiss throughout the room as the vents began to function and fill the station with air. As that was happening, terminals throughout the room came to life, displaying various bits of data and information. Now that they were surrounded by an atmosphere, they could begin to hear the low drone of the generator and the power that was flowing throughout the command center. The lights on the ceiling flickered to life, showing the size of the command room. It was quite large, close to fifteen meters wide and twenty meters deep, and it widened out towards the front. The walls were lined with terminals, and there were several terminals spaced out in front by the windows which looked onto the dark back half of the station. In addition, there were four columns, much like the cores in the Control Interface Room _Destiny_ throughout the room with four consoles around each of them.

Satisfied the generator was stable and there was enough power in the station for his needs, Rush walked away from the engineering consoles and moved to one of the cores. He sat at a chair by a console and activated a holo-display, checking over the status of the station. "Life support has been restored to the command tower. It'll take a little longer for the rest of the outpost to be inhabitable. But for now, it's safe to remove our gear." He released the locks on his helmet and twisted it off. Setting it on the floor, he continued to work at the console.

Following suit, Varro and Scott took off their helmets. Varro walked around the room, making his way to the front viewports as he looked around for anything. At that time, Scott stood by Rush. "Do you have access to the station's logs?"

"I believe so, but I'll need a bit of time to find them." As he was speaking, the holo-display was sifting through large chunks of data, cluttering the display was lots of information that meant nothing to Scott, but seemed to vaguely interest Rush. "The station is running a diagnostic on its operating status; it might be a few minutes before I can access the database." A map of the star system appeared on the screen, isolating dozens of points of interest in the system. One was the station, and the other was a ship at the star which presumably was _Destiny_. There were also dozens of dots that were orbiting in various locations throughout the solar system.

"What are those?" Scott inquired, pointing to one dot that was at the trailing edge of the system.

It took Rush a moment to interpret the incoming telemetry. "Communication and surveillance satellites; they must use them to ensure no loss of data sharing in this system. They can see everything in this solar system with this network."

More light began to film the room as large spotlights began to turn on outside in the vacuum of the shipyard. Standing by the window now, Varro gazed out, finally being able to see all that this station had. He could see dozens of the massive columns filling the space throughout the facility, ready to provide damage support to any stricken craft. There were several more transport hubs that connected to the space elevators that became visible. Along the side walls the berths could be fully visible and it revealed over four dozen ships that he could see, all in various stages of completion. However, that wasn't where his most focus eventually centered at. He started wide-eyed at a ship sitting only one kilometer away from the command tower. There was a massive tower on either side of the ship, holding it firmly with dozens of cables and docking ports.

"Lieutenant Scott, Doctor Rush!" Varro called urgently back to his teammates, not taking his eyes off of the craft.

Scott immediately listened and made his way to Varro. Before he was even halfway there he froze and his face contorted into a state of shock. His heart stopped for a moment as he was surprised by what he saw. "What the hell?!" he managed to spit out.

Worried by the reactions of his comrades, Rush rose from his seat and slowly walked around the core so he could have a line of sight to the ship. As soon as he saw it, he swallowed hard and felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck, but he didn't stop walked until he reached the viewport where Varro was standing. "I think this just got a lot more interesting," he finally said, his initial fear now gone.

All three of them stared intently at the ship, its dark grey hull and red highlights out of place in a shipyard full of clean, polished-silver metal. The bulbous nose the Nakai cruiser stared threateningly down on the command tower, with the fat engine section tethered securely to the surrounding towers. It was just as dark and lifeless as the rest of the station, but at this moment, no one was thinking about rest of the station; only this sleeping giant that it held.

* * *

><p>The door to the next module groaned loudly as it slid across the floor. As with all the previous rooms the team had explored, the stale air rushed out to greet them. Greer quickly stepped through from the catwalk outside, his rifle raised and searching the chamber. It was a large room with one wide circular platform positioned in the center of the room. The floor of it was darkened glass, and there was a railing that covered the front, left, and right of it. The sides of the room were covered in tubes filled with viscous fluids of varied colors. Several computer terminals were clustered by the pedestal, and more lined the front wall. The back of the room held multiple alcoves; all but two were empty. In the filled slots there were opaque containers that sat securely. There seemed to be an observation room located at the top of the room with a window looking into the chamber. Some of the glass tubes were smashed on the ground and a few lights flickered from the tall ceiling, adding to the uneasy feeling in the room. Satisfied the room was safe, Greer motioned the rest of the team to enter.<p>

Next Eli entered the room and groaned as he looked around the chamber. "Oh look, _another_ lab that researches things we don't understand! How many does that bring it up to?" he asked sarcastically.

"Fourteen," Young answered, also slightly tired of the same pattern. "TJ should be at the checkpoint by now." Noticing the medical trend in this base, he had radioed for her to join them over an hour ago. "I'll go meet her there. Don't go anywhere until I'm back." Greer and James acknowledged his orders and established themselves comfortably in the lab. The Colonel then left the room and backtracked his way to the surface, taking the direct and quick route.

Eli set his Kino to follow over his shoulder as he walked around the room, examining anything of interest. Periodically he looked over to stare into the eye of the Kino. "So we've been down here for at least two or three hours. While on the bright side we haven't found any unhappy, murderous survivors of the apocalypse, we also haven't found anything useful. We've come across over a dozen labs and research modules, but without knowing what the equipment's purpose is we've decided it would be best not to touch anything. However, we are pretty certain my initial suspicion was wrong; these aliens were pretty advanced in the medical field." He set the Kino to fly around the room and closely document as much as possible.

"Why would they have this massive research facility hidden right below a major city though?" Ryder asked, leaning against the wall. "Wouldn't it be more logical to put it in the middle of nowhere?"

"Maybe to us," Chloe started, slowly walking around, looking at the pedestals, "but we really don't know how these aliens think."

"They could've put more thought into this place. Maybe then this city wouldn't be in pieces and they wouldn't be dead," said Greer coldly.

"We don't know they're dead; they could have simply abandoned the city," Chloe continued.

Her speculation was cut short when Eli groaned aloud in disgust from the back of the room, getting everyone's attention. While talking into the Kino, he wasn't carefully watching his step and had walked into a puddle of a slimy, yellow liquid from one of the smashed containers. It surprised him and caused him to slide across the floor a couple of feet. He used a nearby computer terminal by the platform to regain his balance. Without noticing it in the commotion, he had slammed into a few buttons on the terminal. Regaining his balance, he checked his boots. "Damn, that's just nasty."

Everyone had moved to join him, careful to avoid the strange substance this time. "Are you okay, Eli?" Chloe asked him quickly.

Eli lifted his boot up to look at the residue that covered the sole. "Ugh… yeah, but this stench can never be washed off."

"What's that?" Ryder asked, staring at one of the containers sitting inside an alcove. Several lights were now glowing along the surface, and a short puff of exhaust shot out from the bottom of it. A very low light came on inside it and began to shine through the glass faintly; there was discernible patch of darkness sitting in the center of the container.

Curious, Ryder took a couple steps closer, but still keeping a good distance from it. Rapidly, the light reached full intensity and revealed a body inside. After decades of decomposition and deterioration all that was left of the alien was a flimsy skeleton. The features of the alien were threatening as it had large shoulders that didn't sit level with the chest but protruded upwards sharply, giving it a hostile posture. Its head was large compared to the rest of the body and had very wide cheekbones and an elongated skull. Overall, the skeletal remains of the alien were intimidating enough that Ryder gasped loudly with fear and jumped back several steps, finding herself inside the circular platform. She grasped the railings around her tightly as she breathed hard and tried to control her heart rate.

Ready in case the situation turned dangerous, Greer and James had their weapons trained on the stasis tube, but when they saw the tube only contained the remains of an alien, they both lowered their weapons. "We're clear." The second tube activated as his weapon was lowered, presenting the same sight as in the first tube.

"Okay, finally I think we're getting somewhere." Eli controlled the Kino from his remote, moving it to the tube. He had it record footage of as much of the alien as they could see through the glass. "The preservation system must have failed a long time ago. Maybe these tubes were trapped here when the power went out."

James looked at the empty slots for the stasis tubes. "This room was meant to hold six tubes, and it looks like there's a built in system to transport them." As she said that she gestured to a sealed portal at the bottom of the alcoves.

"So there could be more of them? This place might not be as dead as we thought," Ryder said with a mix of awe and fear. She had for the most part recovered from her initial shock, but still clung tightly onto the railing.

Looking around the features of the alcoves and the two tubes, Eli nodded his head. "It's possible; this room wasn't meant to power these cryo-tubes; there's only a small connection for temporary interface purposes. Somehow they got trapped in here and the inhabitants would have died when the system failed. It's likely that there is a storage room somewhere else, and it would have its own independent power source to maintain the tubes."

Noticing that Ryder hadn't moved from the platform and was still slightly disoriented from the fright, Chloe walked up to her. She held her hand out in a friendly gesture. "It's okay Tabitha. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, no I'm actually not bad," she responded as a nervous grin flashed across her face quickly. "I just never did like jump scares."

"Here, there's nothing to worry about," Chloe said, walking into the platform with her hand outstretched. "Just focus on calming your nerves and you'll be just fine."

A moment after Chloe entered the confines of the platform, the floor began to light up. It revealed a significant amount of machinery to be concealed beneath the glass panels. Ryder didn't notice, but Chloe looked down and froze for a moment. Everyone else noticed it as well, but they didn't react in time.

A powerful column of red-orange energy shot out from the floor and encompassed Ryder and Chloe. It was accompanied with a high-pitched whine that resonated from the machinery below the room. The beam seemed to have a consistency similar to jelly; it was transparent but appeared to have some thickness to it. The two occupants could be seen within it, frozen in place. At the same time, almost no light emanated from it. Hundreds of narrow pulses came from the floor panel and went straight up, terminating in a similar panel that was built into the ceiling. These pulses were unaffected when they came in contact with Chloe or Ryder; they just passed right through them.

"Chloe!" Eli exclaimed, rushing towards the beam.

The Sergeant grabbed his arm and held him back. "Wait up; we do _not_ need to get anyone else trapped in that!"

Shrugging Greer off of him, Eli slumped back and stared at Chloe, powerless to help. "Well do you have any bright ideas?" He walked past Greer and approached a large terminal that sat in front of the platform. It was alive with data now that the platform was operating, but Eli couldn't make sense of it. Angrily he kicked the stand of the console and walked off.

They stared, unable to do anything for several minutes before Colonel Young came running in with Lieutenant Johansen at his heels. "I could hear you yelling halfway down the facility. What the hell is going…" he trailed off as he looked at the beam which was currently holding two of his people. "Would someone like to tell me what in the _hell_ just happened?!"

"We're not certain, sir," Greer said. "Some of the machinery started to turn on in here, and it trapped Dr. Ryder and Chloe. They've been in there close to five minutes."

"I can't make any sense of the data," Eli commented from across the room as he paced around in a nervous wreck. "Chloe managed to make a couple of good guesses at what some symbols meant, but there's a pretty big, semantic gap between 'door' and 'super crazy machine that does God knows what'!"

TJ walked forward and stared at the beam, incredibly confounded at the purpose. She looked down at the terminal in front of the machine. "It looks like this machine is taking in a lot of information; this data is coming in ridiculously fast. It could be analyzing their genetic structure, but I don't know why."

The machinery under the floor began to quiet down, and the particles flowing through the beam disappeared quickly. Within a few more seconds, the beam dissolved, and very soon the two occupants were released. They were both in a state of shock, but it wore off quickly. Both of them seemed highly disorientated, but otherwise displayed no signs of having been harmed in anyway.

"Are you two okay?" Young asked, moving to the side of the platform with the gap in the railing. It took Chloe a moment to come to her senses, but she nodded her head in a short, jerking motion. "Come on out of there, before anything else happens."

Chloe grabbed Ryder by the arm and pulled her from the railing. Once she was off of the railing, she fully snapped back to reality and quickly charged away from the platform. TJ caught her as she tried to make her way out of the room. "Hey, you're okay; just calm down."

"What happened to us in there?" she asked after a moment of regulating her breath.

"We really don't know much. The best I can figure, it took a detailed scan of your genetic makeup," TJ explained, releasing Ryder as she seemed calmer. "What do you remember?"

Ryder turned to look back at the platform, and seemed significantly calmer. "At first, I was trapped, unable to move. Then I realized I couldn't feel my body. I was completely numb-"

"-almost at peace," Chloe interrupted, her expression also reflecting a great calm. "Then towards the end, it felt like being in a warm shower-"

"-like a giant wave just passing through every cell in my body. And then it was over," she said with a hint of melancholy.

"Yeah, every sense came rushing back to life; just like that the numbness was gone. I could hear, feel, and smell. It was so fast that it just startled me," Chloe finished, looking across to Eli who was staring agape at her.

Young looked them over hard for a moment, stunned at their reaction to the situation. Finally, he loosened up and nodded. "Well I'm just glad you're doing alright. Maybe that's enough adventure though; I think it might be time we head back to _Destiny_."

"I could not agree with you more," Eli chirped enthusiastically. "I'm done with this place." He recalled the Kino and set it to fly ahead of him this time.

"Come on, let's get you back and make sure you're okay," Young said, gesturing Chloe and Ryder to leave. TJ went first and the rest of the military took up the rear.

As soon as they were on the catwalk, yet another set of quick chirps sounded. This time, a module below them was elevated by the pistons holding it up. Within a few moments it was on the same level as the catwalk, and magnetically connected itself to an open section in railing about ten meters ahead of them. The module came to life with lights covering the exterior, and a low drone could be heard. The bottom had wide pipes covering it which were left open. With a groan, a collection of pipes slid out from a track beneath the catwalk and aligned itself with the open ends of the module's pipes. They bolted together and very soon a sloshing sound could be heard as some liquid began passing through it.

The team watched this happen in silence from just outside the module they were in a minute ago. It all happened very quickly, and it ended with the door to the module opening.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to investigate the creepy chamber?" Eli asked from the middle of the group.

"It can't be a pure coincidence that this happens right after that device scanned Chloe and Tabitha," TJ said, vocalizing everyone's thoughts. "Let's just take a quick look; it might give us a few answers."

Young nodded and made his way to the head of the group, past an objecting Eli. "If that beam did something to them, then we have a responsibility to find out what." He walked up to the module's entrance and walked into the large room. The rest of the team was right behind him, with the Kino floating above Eli's head.

This module was very spacious, much like all the others. There was one cluster of computer terminals situated at the far end of the room in a semicircular setup. It seemed designed to put focus on the center of the room which was very appropriate. In the center there was a large above ground vat which was at the moment completely empty. The floor and walls were covered in injectors, needles, and what looked like water jets. Sitting above it was a large machine that was connected to many tubes and had vials all over it. It was the machine that was producing the droning sound.

Eli and TJ made their way to the control area in the back of the room while the rest of the team stared into the empty vat. The terminals were spitting out data at incredibly fast rates and the computers were processing the information as it came in. "I can't make heads or tails of this," Eli stated after a couple moments of observation. "I mean, some kind of program is being executed, but I couldn't guess what it is doing."

A clinging sound dimly resonated through the pipes, and a moment later a green colored liquid began pouring into the vat. Having multiple spouts filling the vat, it only took about a minute until it was three-quarters full, at which point the pipes shut off.

"Okay, the self-automation in this place is really starting to freak me out," Eli commented with his arms crossed as he gave up reading the consoles. "Maybe they can do something useful like fix me up lunch?"

The machine above the vat suddenly went quiet as a duo of chirps emanated from the console. A small rod descended from the center of the machine until it was a few centimeters above the surface of the liquid. It released a drop of clear colored liquid and immediately retracted itself to the machine. The instant the drop hit the liquid in the vat a chemical reaction began to occur. The liquid quickly began to boil, and the room was filled with a mildly offensive odor. Various jets along the side of the vat set to work and began dispensing other compounds into the vat. Within seconds, physical clumps could be seen forming on the bottom of the vat. They were small strands of white fiber that adhered to each other when the jets threw them into each other.

Incredibly interested, TJ walked right up to the edge of the vat. "I could be wrong, but I think that this device is engineering some kind of living organism. The technological and medical knowledge needed to do this is amazing." She continued to stare at the forming clumps in awe.

"What is it making?" Young asked promptly.

"I have no clue," she admitted, looking up to Young, "but if they can grow the tissue this fast, we won't have to wait long to find out."

* * *

><p>"Rush, what the hell is that ship doing here?" Scott demanded from the scientist as he followed him back to a core terminal with the active holo-display.<p>

Sitting back down at the same station, Rush began to query the station's logs. "Right now I know just as much about the situation as you do. So if you could give me a moment, I can find the answers we both want."

Sighed loudly, the Lieutenant nodded and took a step back, gazing back out of the window. "I knew we were going to run into those bastards again, but I didn't expect it to be under these circumstances."

"If it makes you feel any better, it's just their ship," Rush said, reading from the holo-display which had a schematic of the ship and a lot of text to accompany it. "No survivors were found on board."

"Wait, you're saying the Nati found this ship?" Varro asked, joining his teammates back at the core.

"Yes, nearly twenty-six years ago. This ship would have been a part of the original task force sent out to locate _Destiny_," Rush answered. He skimmed through a great deal of technical details and tapped several buttons to focus on the schematics.

Varro frowned when he heard that information. "I thought the first contact the Nati had with them was two years ago. That's what Tarym told Chloe anyways."

No answer came from Rush for a minute as he read several pages of text, both on the ship and the operational logs of this outpost. "In that case, may I be the bearer of the shocking news that Tarym was lying. It seems that the information he told Chloe is the official story the Nati release to the public about their contact with the Nakai. In reality, they found this ship adrift over two decades ago, and have been studying it ever since. Hiding the accidental discovery of an alien ship is easier to hide than an open conflict."

"Are we in any danger?" Scott worriedly asked. "Can it send a signal to their fleet?"

"No, according to these records, that ship was in terrible condition when it was discovered." Rush isolated a section of the logs and expanded it. There was a diagram which displayed the damage to the cruiser. "The ship seems to have suffered a failure in their hyperdrive engines. According to the best analysis of the ship's logs, the core went critical and dropped the ship out of hyperspace without warning; instabilities throughout the system crippled the ship and when the core's shielding was lost the crew was exposed to lethal levels of radiation. The survivors managed to deactivate the core, but the damage was too severe, and they were already dying. Without an active drive core or main computer, the cruiser couldn't send out a distress call. The rest of the task force probably couldn't find them and decided they needed to continue on to find _Destiny_."

Shaking his head grimly, Varro stared at the ship with sympathy. "I know they've mostly made our lives difficult, but that's no way for anyone to go out."

Rush ignored the comment and went on with the logs. "A Nati planetary survey ship found the derelict cruiser in this star system and their leadership decided they would study the ship in secret. So they towed the ship into orbit and constructed this base around it."

"Wait, you're saying the point of this station was to hold that ship in place?" Scott asked incredulously. "I guess they really wanted to make a big deal out of it."

"Well they couldn't move the ship through hyperspace to another research outpost. The damage to the hull was too severe, and it was too dangerous to active the ship's drive; in its condition it's liable to detonate," Rush explained. "The only other alternative was to keep the ship here."

"I guess they got they're monies' worth out of it. That hunter ship is a real pain with their augmented technology." Scott paced around the room thinking about the situation. "How much do you think they learned from that ship?"

The scientist shrugged as he skimmed over dozens of logs, looking for anything interesting. "Without any of the surviving aliens to interrogate, they spent the first decade just building this facility around it. They tinkered for the next decade and managed to replicate some of the weapon technologies, repair outstanding hull breaches. It took them a while to patch their own generators to power the ship, because they couldn't risk activating the core. The most research came out of the last two years once they were able to interrogate captives from the three scout ships and learn their language and systems."

At this point Varro sighed with frustration and looked urgently to Rush. "All this tells us is that this was a prominent station for the Nati military. They could conduct secret research and develop incredibly powerful warships. So why did they leave?!"

Rush groaned quietly in frustration as he was annoyed of the barrage of questions. He looked to the most recent operations log. It was a few seconds before he dropped his frustration and became gravely concerned. "They left because this facility was in the path of a rogue asteroid."

Everyone paused for a moment and forgot about the cruiser. "But this station is massive. It has powerful defenses and there was a fleet here to guard it," Scott argued.

"And none of that would make a difference," Rush said slowly. He switched the holo-display to show the asteroid and its projected course. The misshapen lump of rock and metal was nearly four times the size of the outpost and there was a significant field of small chunks flying in front of it. "No amount of conventional energy weapons could stop that thing and the Nati lacked any fissionable material or powerful explosives to deflect the object. So they took whatever ships and resources they could and fled the system. The decision was also made since this outpost was too far out from the heart of the empire where most of the internal fighting is going on."

"How long ago did that happen?" Varro asked.

"The last log entry is dated sixteen days ago. Once they detected the asteroid they tried to plan a way to save their outpost. But they realized they had nothing, so they took every completed ship and left." He played an existing simulation in the database. The asteroid slowly collided with the station and a part of the moon. The outpost is totally destroyed and the remnants are sent hurtling to the planet with the asteroid right behind. "Projections indicated that the planetary impact would be disastrous. There would be an ice age that would render this planet totally uninhabitable."

Scratching his head, Varro nodded agreeably. "I suppose for once they actually did something makes sense."

A terrifying thought popped into Scott's head as he walked back urgently to Rush. "You said a planetary survey ship found the derelict. That means they were originally sent to study the planets here. Did they find any life?"

Rush understood his concern and once again searched through the logs. His search was over very quickly. "Yes," he said quietly. "This outpost has a monitoring station which studied the intelligent species on the planet below." The scientist paused as he closely read the details on the species. "Their level of development is close to the Iron Age, with a population of nearly one hundred fifty million spread across the planet."

"And that asteroid will kill them all, won't it?"

"Not at once, but the crust of the planet is thinner than most. The impact would release tremendous amounts of magma and sulfur dioxide," Rush said with the cold detachment he was well practiced in. "Within several years, the atmosphere will be too toxic for any living thing to survive."

"How long do we have until the asteroid impacts the station?" Scott asked.

He referred to the projection once more. "The actual asteroid is still two days away from impact. But the debris field in front of the asteroid will begin to hit the station within the next eleven hours. It's nothing that the hull can't handle, but it could make our escape problematic. I can most likely recover enough of the logs in an hour and we can leave well before the field hits."

"Wait a second, you just want to leave?!" Scott shouted incredulously. He stood in front of the console and stared straight at the scientist. "What about the people on that planet?"

"What about them?" he returned, setting out to copy as much of the database to an external drive in the console. The display showed the rapid transfer of data.

"So you're gonna act just like the Nati? Turn around and run away when things get dangerous without a single thought about what you can do to help others?!"

Rush sighed loudly and gave Scott a dark look. "I've haven't even been here for an hour; the Nati looked for a solution for days before they left! What do you expect from me?"

"I expect you to be the genius you usually are that gets people out of desperate situations!" he yelled back.

Both of them glared at each other in silence. Scott eased up first and took a step back, nodding apologetically. Rush leaned his elbow onto the console and scratched his beard as he watched the transfer. "I would do something if I could," he said mildly, "but I have nothing to work with. The Nati took everything operational with them."

"What about that cruiser?" Varro asked, standing by the window again.

The scientist shrugged off the suggestion. "The main weapon on that ship would be just as ineffective as the defenses on this outpost."

"What about using the ship itself as the weapon?" Varro made his way back up to the core. "You already said that the drive core is in danger of going critical. I don't know what is powering that ship, but I get the feeling a core meltdown would make a hell of an explosion."

"He's right," Scott said, siding with him. "If we could get the cruiser alongside the asteroid while it's far enough from the planet, the detonation would only need to shift the course of the asteroid by a few degrees to be able to miss the planet and the outpost."

Rush ran his hands through his hair and sat back in his seat, thinking about it. "There're two problems I see with this plan. One, is that debris field might be too much for this ship; its condition is incredibly fragile even with the hull patches the Nati made. That field is extremely large, so going around for safety will cost us time. Second, and most importantly, there's no way to power up the ship without turning on the core, and that would expose us to significant amounts of lethal radiation." Scott and Varro both gave him discouraged looks as they walked off to think on their own. He let out an exasperated sigh. "But it is possible."

Scott turned back around and gave him a wide smile. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

"According to the scans from the researchers the core would destabilize, in their own words 'violently', if the ship attempted a jump to hyperspace. I can use the Nati generators to power the sublight drive, thereby limiting the time the core needs to be active," Rush said, looking through the schematic on the remains of the ship. Multiple areas in the aft quarter were highlighted in a dull red. "The Nati did secure most of the hull breaches; if I can restore partial shields I suspect we can survive the debris field, as long as I steer the ship away from any dense portions of the field. As for the radiation, these suits should absorb the worst of it." He pulled the drive from the bottom of the console and set the console to relay the rest of the database remotely to the shuttle. Below it he found a slot that held a Nati tablet. Out of curiosity, he took that as well and turned it on, inserting the data drive into a slot on the side. It lit up to show a schematic of the Nakai cruiser. "Come on, if we want to make this work we need to get to work at once. I need to get into that tower first," he said pointing to one of the large columns that held the cruiser in place. "I'll need to transfer dock control to the cruiser and begin a power transfer to the Nati generators. It'll take a while."

The three men grabbed all of their equipment and made their way back to their shuttle, now with the station fully operational and lit.

* * *

><p>Young stood leaning against the railing of the catwalk, looking on the massive underground complex. It was quiet and inactive in most parts; only the few modules they had disturbed showed signs of life. After Young had been out on his own for a while, Eli walked out of the module with the chemical vat and stood next to him in silence. "This place is a warning," Young finally said after a long time. "Whatever these people did, we should make sure we never do it."<p>

"Yeah well, I think we may have made some progress on figuring that out," he said solemnly, leaning against the railing beside the Colonel. "It's hard to know for certain, but we've pieced a bunch of things together from the purpose of this place and a few symbols Chloe deciphered."

"What do you have?"

The scientist sighed and looked forward, matching his gaze with Young's. "The best we can figure, the aliens here were losing the war with their enemies; they just weren't bred to fight. So they started a eugenics campaign here. They would take two people that had been specifically selected; one with exceptional physical traits, and another with advanced mental abilities. In essence they literally bonded brains with brawns. That chemical pool in there is creating a full blown organism from one of their genetic templates using organic materials stored here and a level of biological engineering none of us can comprehend. Once the body is grown, it'll upload the consciousness and we'll have… something to deal with."

"Best of both worlds; I bet that helped them in their war effort," Young commented with half-hearted interest.

"Not only that but it allowed them to grow fully trained soldiers in almost no time at all. I mean, it's only been about ten hours, and that thing looks like it's almost done." He turned to face Young directly as he betrayed his disgust. "You haven't heard the creepiest part though. Do you wanna know where they got all of the organic material?"

"How about you just tell me?"

"Well, you noticed how come we never found a single body in the city?" he continued in an animated description of what he learned. "It turns out, that every single victim of the war, either friend or foe, was taken to another plant here and liquefied. They had all of their essential building blocks broken down and separated into nice, separated containers. Some proteins here, fatty acids over there, and a splash of carbohydrates in the next vat. This whole place was just to recycle people and build new soldiers," he said with a shiver going down his spine as he expounded on the process.

Young looked towards Eli, furrowing his brow in near horror. He pushed off the railing and paced down the catwalk. "I suppose in the long run, they thought it was their best chance in winning the war."

"Maybe, all we can figure out is that this city was attacked during the war, and this facility allowed every single casualty out there to be recycled." Eli followed Young as he slowly walked down the catwalk. "At a certain point, we think they stopped looking for new subjects. They just found one template they liked and kept making more of the same. For one reason or another, this place was shut down. I'd like to think that they realized this place was crazy."

They walked further along in silence, starting to get closer to an unexplored area so they turned back finally. "How far along is… whatever that thing is?"

Eli shrugged, sticking his hands into his pockets as it was getting colder in the facility. "A significant amount of the internal tissue is done. The skeletal frame is complete and the muscles were developing last I looked. The form was humanoid, but it didn't exactly look familiar."

"Maybe the system didn't recognize the human anatomy," Young guessed. "It could mess up the template."

"It's possible. Also, I have no idea how long it's been since this tech was active. It could be faulty by now." He turned to Young, as if though to speak, then stopped himself. A moment later he spoke again, but it seemed a bit awkward. "I was pretty impressed by how useful Chloe has been. Usually her archaeology can be mildly helpful, but combined with that Nakai mental super-boost she just picks up on so many things I over look. She pieced together most of the history here."

"I know. Sometimes it worries me a bit, but ever since those aliens cured her, she's been in control of herself." Young stopped walking and gave Eli a stern look. "What's on your mind? Is something bothering you?"

He scoffed in response and turned around to face the railing. After looking back out for a few seconds, he looked back to Young. At first he spoke nervously. "Well… I just was thinking about what this place is and what it can do… and…" He took in a deep breath and spat out the rest of his thoughts. "What if we could use this place to bring Ginn back?"

Young stared in disbelief at him. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I'm not disagreeing with you," he said quickly, defending his point. "I don't even know how I would develop the interface with her memory storage or find someone willing to have their body duplicated. But, I just started thinking, you know? And now I can't get the idea out of my head; that just maybe it would work." Disheartened, he leaned back against the railing and stared at the floor.

Sighing, Young took a step forward and firmly grabbed Eli's shoulders. "Your heart is in the right place Eli. If we were experts in this technology and we knew there were no problems down the road, I'd probably be right on board with you. There are just too many unknowns, so don't weigh yourself down with this decision," he asked in a compassionate voice, holding Eli straight up and looking him dead in the eye. The young man was thinking everything over, his face contorted as his emotions were struggling with his common sense.

Before they could continue their conversation, James, came bolting from the door of the module. They had walked over thirty meters away without realizing it, so she yelled loudly towards them once she saw them. "Colonel Young! Eli! Get back here quick!"

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, making sure he had resolved the issue, at least for the moment. Eli shook off the thought and gave the Colonel a thankful nod. Glad that Eli had put his dilemma past him, he patted him on the shoulder and the started jogging back. They reached the module quickly and looked around for the emergency.

Chloe stood by the edge of the vat, staring relentlessly at the creature which Young couldn't see at the moment. Greer had his weapon raised as he watched from the other side of the vat with Dr. Ryder standing a safe distance behind him. The stunned expression of TJ's face stared blankly at Young. "I… the… the epidermal layer just started forming. That's when we began to recognize it." She turned to look back at the creature.

Eli took a few steps forward and stood at the edge, next to Chloe. His expression went from slightly conflicted to pure shock. "What the…?"

Inside the vat, the water had mostly settled and drained as the organism had consumed the majority of the chemical bath in forming itself. Now, a long, skinny creature sat at the bottom of the tank, its blue skin covering its body. The creature looked like a hybrid between a human and a Nakai, and a frightening one at that. It had the overall shape of a Nakai, while the skin was rougher and the extremities were bulkier, following after human dimensions. Instead of having the fish-like characteristics of a normal Nakai, this hybrid more closely resembled an alligator as the skin was coarse and had small, sharp ridges running all along its body. All of these distinctions working together managed to elicit a feeling of fear in everyone.

Young jumped up and walked halfway to the door before stopped and looking back. "How the _hell_ did that thing end up in there?!" he demanded.

From the edge of the tank, Chloe's hoarse voice carried the answer. "The device selected the dominant genetic pattern. While the Nakai removed the active pathogen, some of it clearly still existed in my body, maybe as a latent marker. Clearly the end goal of the pathogen was to have me end up as this… hybrid creature, and so the machine created that."

"And it used that template to actually make one of them," Eli said, his eyes bulging as he thought about this.

"Do you want me to take the shot, sir?" Greer asked, aiming the barrel of his rifle right at the Nakai hybrid's head.

"Colonel!" Ryder objected, walking up to him. "That creature isn't even alive yet. It has no consciousness, and is being sustained by that machinery. Right now it's no more our enemy than the civilization that existed here."

Greer argued back without taking his eyes off of his target. "Sir, with all due respect, I'd rather not wait around until it learns it's supposed to be our enemy."

"I think it's done," TJ said, noticing that the vat was completely dry now. Another double chirp came from the computer and she ran back to investigate. "I'm guessing that means they're starting the final stage."

"That's the part where it incorporates the mental patterns of one of you two?" Young asked for confirmation.

Eli nodded, joining TJ at the computers. "I'm assuming since it selected Chloe for the genetic patterns, it'll use Tabitha for the cognitive component."

"Is there any chance that it could be friendly in that case?" Ryder queried, using the word loosely. "I mean… if it has my thoughts and memories, shouldn't it know what side it's on?"

"I don't think so," TJ said quickly. "Look what the Nakai virus did the Chloe before. If this organism was made from the inactive remnants of that pathogen, then it could take over the cognitive area of this creature. With the accelerated growth of the tissue, the pathogen could be voracious and take over immediately. It might have your memories and knowledge, but the pathogen would be making the decisions for you."

"All the more reason we shouldn't risk it, sir." The Sergeant didn't move his weapon away from the alien, but also waited for his superior to give the order first.

Young raised his hand, ready to gesture to Greer to fire, but as he was doing that, the floor of the tank opened up and dropped the creature into a pod that was situated below it. The interior of the pod was covered in a soft cushion that cradled the alien. With the creature inside, a glass cover slid over the pod and a set of restraints slid over the alien.

Everyone was leaning over the edge of the vat at this point so they could see what was happening. Following the half given order from the Colonel, Greer fired one shot at the cover, hoping to penetrate it and shoot the alien in the head. Instead, the bullet bounced right off the surface and proceeded to ricochet around the room.

"Hold your fire!" Young shouted, noticing that the bullet didn't even leave a scratch. He waved to James and gestured for her to use the Nati rifle. Nodding, she fired a trio of shots from it, and still nothing happened.

Before he could give another order, electrodes extended from the walls of the pod and connected to the temples of the alien. A set of chirps came from the computers as they shot to life and sent a low level charge into the hybrid's brain. The restraints did their best to hold the creature in place, but it still squirmed as the electricity flowed through the electrodes.

The process was completed in a matter of seconds, and the electrodes detached from the alien and returned to their slots in the pod's wall. Immediately, the hybrid opened its eyes, staring up with its fast moving, jittery eyes. Realizing it was trapped in a small pod, it began to struggle against its shackles, but to no avail. Blinking rapidly, it looked past the transparent cover and saw the ring of humans watching it closely. The creature emitted a low growl, its large, black eyes glaring menacingly at all of them.

Then, with little warning, the pod shook as it loosened itself from the module. There was a track located below this module, and it quickly whisked the pod away from them. A moment later a fresh, empty pod took its place, and the floor closed.

"Eli, where does that go?!" Young barked, pushing off from the edge of the tank and rushing out of the module.

"I don't know the layout of this place! These tubes go to all over the place." He spread his arms wide in all directions to further explain his point.

Chloe went to follow the Colonel, an urgent expression on her face. "It'll take the alien to the checkpoint on the surface. The soldiers were meant to be deployed immediately once they were done." She spoke with a cold confidence at the matter, her eyes asking him to trust her.

He nodded in response. "Alright, double time it back to the surface." He took point, running through the facility back tracking his way to the security checkpoint. Greer caught up with him quickly, while James stayed at the end of the group to keep an eye on the slower civilians.

After several minutes of running across catwalks, through modules, and up stairs, Young reached ground level. He raised his rifle and panned across the hallway. The first thing he noticed was that the door at the end of the hallway was unlocked. Inside this now opened room Young could see a few empty alcoves along the wall, shelves with what looked like military gear and weapons, and one open pod. The hybrid was nowhere to be seen, but it seemed clear to him that it had been here.

He waited in silence for the rest of his team to catch up with him. "Did you find it?" Eli asked, catching his breath.

"No, it had too much of a head start over us," Young said, panting only a little bit. "It probably grabbed some equipment and is putting as much distance between itself and us as possible."

"It's going to go the Stargate," Chloe managed to say between breaths. "If the pathogen has taken over its mind, then its only goal will be to get back to its people. Getting off this planet will be the beginning. Even without a dialing remote, it'll find some way to get off." She spoke with a deep knowledge, uncomfortably dredging up the few bits of her past experience she could remember.

Young looked over urgently to TJ. "Do we still have a team by the 'Gate?"

"No, they went back to _Destiny_ when I came here; they found enough food and didn't want to stay until we were sure it was safe," she replied quickly, squinting as the sun was rising over the horizon, casting a bright light into the corridor.

"I guess we found out the answer to that," said Greer under his breath.

Sighing loudly, Young readied his weapon and walked outside into the warmth of the sun. "Eli, dial _Destiny_; we need to secure a defensive perimeter around the 'Gate if it tries to leave."

Complying with his order, he raised the Kino remote and tried to reach the dialing controls. Instead, he was met with a flashing red bar across the screen. "Whoa whoa whoa… I can't connect with the Stargate."

"What do you mean?" Young asked stiffly.

"Something is jamming the signal." He angrily shook the remote and then walked out of the building, clearing the metal structure. Still he had no success. "The alien must have activated up some kind of full spectrum jamming device. It probably is blanketing the whole city." Disgruntled he walked back into the compound.

The Colonel swore and looked around as he thought. His gaze eventually landed on the Kino. "Can you still control that? At the least we might be able to find where it is."

He looked back to the remote and tried to control the Kino. It flew out the door, but after it went about ten meters out the video feed was disconnected and the camera stopped moving. "Dammit, it'll only work in a close proximity."

"Maybe we should find the source of the interference," James suggested, poking her head into the control room. "If we can shut it down we can track him again."

"We'd have the same problem we've been having all day," Eli complained, recalling the Kino and putting it and the remote in his backpack. "This technology still barely makes any sense to us. I don't know what to look for, so I can't turn it off!"

Greer shuffled around in the hallway. "How about you just shut down the whole place, same way you turned it on?"

As Eli was shaking his head in approval, James groaned aloud. "Yeah, there might be an issue with that idea." Everyone walked into the control room as she was staring at the console that had Eli used to activate the facility. The level was snapped off and the entire surface of the panel was covered in scorch marks. It sizzled as the damage was fresh; the metal and exposed wiring was hot and sent sparks flying across the room. "I get the feeling it doesn't want this place getting shut down."

"Alright, that's enough of this," Young announced resolutely, marching out of the facility. "We don't have any more time to waste trying to figure this out. Hopefully if we get far enough away, the interference will clear." He raised his weapon and led the way out into the daylight with the rest of the team following. "Let's hurry; I don't want to let that bastard get away."

* * *

><p>Varro pointed his flashlight done the wide corridor of the Nakai cruiser. The halls never went on for long without taking another turn, which made navigation a bit confusing. Thankfully, the floor was polished and pretty reflective, so the small light from the flashlight went a long way. Rush kept his focus on the tablet which he was using to help guide himself though the ship. "Where do we go from here?" Varro asked.<p>

"The Nati engineering crew identified an operations center just a bit further down to the left," he said, interpreting the blueprint and associated data. "I believe they set up an interface with the outpost's central computer. Once we can get partial power restored, I should be able to access the database and sensors."

They turned the corner and proceeded heading left. This hallway was longer, and had a cluster of Nati terminals sitting outside one of the doors. Wires from the terminals ran all along the floor and through open panels in the walls.

Rush activated the comm system on his suit. "Lieutenant Scott, we're approaching the ops center now; stand by."

"Understood," he replied from onboard the shuttle. He stayed behind so they could affect a speedy escape as soon as needed.

Passing by the Nati consoles, Rush paused and gave them a thorough examination. "Good, the power transfer was successful," he said, tapping a key that woke the terminal from its inactivity. The display illuminated part of the hall and showed data on the generators. He placed the tablet down on the floor and focused on the terminal. "Lieutenant, I'm bringing the generators back online."

After inputting a short command sequence, one of the portable generators near the console light up and began glowing brightly. Before long, it supplied power to the adjacent area and the lights came on, dimly illuminating the corridor. The light panels that adorned the door also lit up. Several glass cylinders became visible lining the corridor, and water began to bubble through them. The crystals that surrounded the bottom of the tubes gave the apparatuses an icy appearance. At the opposite end of the hall there was a water filled cylinder with a single, thin Nakai console that was slowly coming to life. On the terminal's screen, Rush saw over a dozen other emergency generators spread across the ship activate as well.

"I've left the life support system disabled," he said as he picked up his tablet from the ground. "We won't have a need for it, and we'll need every watt to power the engines and shields."

He approached the door to the ops center and tapped a button on the side. The door silently slid open, revealing a modest room. There was a short extension of the hallway that continued past the door which ended on two water tanks, one on either end. After that, it expanded into a room no larger than the whole of the shuttle's floor space. The walls were made from long, thin vertical panels, and there were several circular panels that stuck out with a glowing red center spaced equally throughout the room. At all three walls of the room, there were trapezoidal consoles with their crystals and touch panels emitting a dull blue light.

"Not very roomy," Varro commented as Rush made his way to the console at the end of the room.

"Not all species require vast space to work in," Rush replied, setting his tablet on the ground again. "From my experience, these aliens get by without many interfaces or large rooms." He looked over the alien console for a moment and proceeded to activate the holographic screen. A blue oval fizzed to life over the console, flickering lightly occasionally.

Varro gazed at the data scrolling in the Nakai language on the screen. "Do you even understand any of that?"

"A good deal of it," the scientist admitted casually. "When Chloe was under the influence of the Nakai pathogen, she wrote extensive journals using Ancient and their language. Together, the two of us have managed to reach a working knowledge of the language."

The screen had a lengthy menu appear, the curvy text of the Nakai text filling up the screen. Rush selected one of the options and a diagram filled the right part of the screen, with more text on the left. "Good, the generators are properly tied into the main power grid," Rush noted optimistically. "Redirecting the needed power to the sublight drive should be fairly easy, but we should save that for the last minute."

He left the screen active in the engineering system and walked out of the room. "What are you doing?" Varro asked, following him out.

Rush stepped in front of the Nati console and began typing away expertly on the keys. "In order for our plan to work, I will need to plot a precise course that will allow us to avoid the majority of the debris field. Then I need to align the ship to collide with the asteroid at the right location, angle, and velocity. We can't just blow the ship up; it's needs to be a precise hit. To do all of that, we need sensors."

"You're going to use the outpost's sensor array?"

"Aye, it's significantly more powerful, and we can relay all of the telemetry through the Nati interface straight into the cruiser's computer." He worked for a few more seconds, and then the console flashed, indicating the task was completed successfully. "Good, we should have access to the outpost's entire sensor network."

The communicator in Varro's suit beeped as they made their way back into the room. "Hey, would either of you guys mind updating me?"

"Dr. Rush is prepping the cruiser for launch right now," Varro answered as he watched Rush scurry over to the console at the right side of the room and activate its screen. "Right now he's syncing the station's external sensors with the cruiser."

"Roger," Scott said. He let the line go to static for a moment, and then it came back as he remembered something. "Oh, while he's at it, maybe he can get the comms working. You know, let _Destiny_ know what we found and not to get scared when it starts flying through the solar system?"

Chuckling at the request, Varro nodded and made his way up to Rush. "Did you catch that Rush?"

"I did; that should be easy enough, and I suspect the communication satellites in this star system will allow us to get the message to _Destiny_." With only a moment of tinkering, the screen showed the same map of the solar system as they had seen in the outpost's control center. The dot representing _Destiny_ was now on the far side of the star, slowly gliding away. "I've successfully patched in the communication grid."

As soon as the computer had real time access to the grid, a flashing symbol appeared on the screen and dominated over the other data. "That doesn't look good," Varro commented.

"What do you mean; what's happening?" Scott asked as the comm line was still active. "Rush?"

"Hang on." He tapped on a corresponding key on the console that was flashing. The communication map dissolved from the screen, and a short string of text replaced it. Below it, a few rows of additional text filled in. "The communication net is detecting a distress call being carried on a subspace channel."

Worried, Varro walked up and looked gravely at the line of foreign text. "Is it from _Destiny_?"

Rush shook his head in reply. "No, but… this is strange. I recognize the carrier wave; it's the same one used by the Stargates for their subspace network." He paused and doubled checked his readings, scrutinizing the wave shown on the screen. "Only… the frequency has been modulated to match a Nakai emergency frequency. The message is short; it just says 'help'."

"They're using a Stargate to send out a distress call? Wow, they must be in trouble if they can't use their own technology," Varro surmised.

"Well he shouldn't count on us caring about that," Scott said over the radio with a small chuckle.

In an instant, Rush seized up in great worry. "Oh no," he muttered, his gaze fixated on a familiar piece of data on the screen. Before he allowed anyone to ask him what the matter was, he pointed to a string of seven characters; each was made from line, circles, and curved components. "That's the 'Gate sequence for the planet Colonel Young is on."

"What?!" Varro and Scott exclaimed in unison.

"The Nakai are aware of our presence in this galaxy. We have to assume that they have ships in this sector that can detect this signal and be at that planet very quickly," Rush spat out in a panic.

Rush stood still in front of the console, looking at the message. Finally Varro grabbed him by the shoulder and gave him a shake. "Hey, we need to warn the Colonel. Send a message to _Destiny_ so they can pass it on."

Nodding, the doctor navigated back to the communication menu and set to work establishing a channel. "Right."

"And then we get this bird out of the nest," Scott said, the comm unit picking up a bit up static. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting just a bit sick of being here."

* * *

><p>Young was jogging along the river bank, making his way back to the 'Gate. Without Kino support, they chose to follow their same route back so as not to get lost. The military personnel were with him while the civilians were behind by a short distance.<p>

The ruined city was a good distance behind them before Young's radio squawked to life, heavy static filling the line at first. "… please …ond… onel Young. Can … ead me?"

"We must be almost out of jamming range," Eli called from a short distance behind the Colonel.

He continued on for a short stretch further and called for everyone to stop. Quickly, he grabbed his radio. "This is Colonel Young, go ahead."

Finally the line was clear enough for Brody's concerned voice to be heard. "Colonel, thank God you're there. We've been trying to get a hold of you for the last few minutes. We were starting to think the worst."

"Sorry about that," he said as the group gathered around him and continued walking along the shore. By this time the sun was raising high in the sky, fully illuminating the environment. "Unfortunately we've run into a problem over here. Long story short, there is a hostile Nakai on this planet and we think it's trying to get offworld."

Brody continued unimpeded after that. "We know, that's why we've been trying to reach you."

Hearing that, Young stopped and frowned in puzzlement. "How could you know about that?"

"Rush found a Nakai cruiser in that outpost he went to investigate," he quickly, trying not to draw out the suspense. Young and everyone on the team tensed up but the scientist continued. "I don't know what it's doing their either; we'll find out when Rush briefs us. Anyways, he picked up a Nakai distress call coming from your planet being broadcasted by the Stargate."

"Holy crap, how did it get there so fast?" Eli exclaimed.

"We did establish that the transfer gave the alien an understanding of the technology here. It's only logical to assume there would be information on the terrain and best travel paths as well," surmised Ryder, taking the opportunity to splash some cold water on her face as the day was getting hot.

"Brody, we're still about fifteen minutes away from the 'Gate," the Colonel said, resuming his fast walk along the shore. "Did you deploy a Kino to the planet?"

There was a pause for a few seconds before he returned. "I had one of standby; it's going through now." The team continued onward as they waited for his answer. "The area around the 'Gate is clear. I can see where the alien tampered with the 'Gate controls, but there's no sign of any life right now."

"Fine, in that case send an armed team over and have them secure the immediate area around the Stargate. We'll meet them there, Young out." Now faced with more dire circumstances, he broke out into a run again, everyone matching pace with him.

* * *

><p>Milling around the ops center, Rush was concluding his pre-flight check. All three of the stations were active at the moment. The front screen displayed a tactical overlay of the cruiser sitting in the station. On the right screen there showed crucial data from the sensor network and on the left the screen was populated with information on the engines. Rush was currently at the engineering station.<p>

"How's it coming?" Varro asked, standing up against the wall, slightly bored as he had nothing to do but watch the scientist scurry from console to console.

"Just another minute or two; one of the engines is running a purge of the system. We'll be able to leave once that is done." He back away from the console satisfied he had done everything necessary. "I need to decouple the docking clamps holding this ship in place." Following that announcement, he walked back into the hallway where the Nati interface was set up. It took Rush only a few moments to input the appropriate commands. Several loud clunks echoed through the bulkheads of the ship and the deck jostled as the cruiser was freed from its bonds. "That's it, we're clear to move."

"Glad to hear it," Scott mumbled over the comm line. "The sooner this is over, the better; sitting in a bay full of these fighters is starting to get uncomfortable."

Once the doctor was back in the room, he glanced back at the engineering screen. A bright red flash from the sensor station made him snap around.

The warning also caught Varro's attention. On the screen, the outpost was suddenly highlighted in a pulsating red glow, with text superimposed. "That doesn't look good."

"The debris field is here," Rush answered calmly, closing down the warning. "We're in no immediate danger; the outpost's hull will survive." He quickly moved to the fore console and tapped a set of buttons. A text message popped up which frustrated him. "Dammit, I can't raise the shields. The sublight engines required more power than I anticipated."

"You said this ship is pretty unstable; can it survive the field without shields?" Scott asked.

Rush paced around a moment before answered. "I don't think so," he admitted, grabbing onto the console and leaning on it. "I'll have to bring the ship's primary drive core online," Rush said after a brief internal deliberation. "The core needs to be handled carefully; the power distribution system is not fully functional. I can't power the shields and engines at the same time. For the moment I can charge the shields, and then I'll have to manually divert power to the hyperdrive before impact."

"Wait, manually?" Varro asked with concern. "How much time does that give us to get off the ship?"

"Not enough to slip up," he said slowly, but firmly. "This ship will not survive long without shields. To ensure we shift the asteroid's course enough, I can switch power at fifty kilometers. At the slowest acceptable velocity, that would give us about four minutes to get off and achieve minimal safe distance."

"That's not much room for error," Varro said grimly.

The scientist nodded in response. "You're right, it's not."

Realizing there was no other option, Scott assented nervously. "Yeah… yeah okay; do whatever you need."

"Good, activating the primary core ignition sequence." Entering a command sequence into the engineering panel, the screen spat data out at a fast rate as the core turned on. The flow of energy was slow at the moment, but it was enough to fill the bulkheads with a short vibration as the ship's natural source of power surged through the conduits. "Main power holding steady; I'm bringing the shields online."

"Take us out Rush," the Lieutenant ordered from the hangar bay. "I've got the shuttle on hot standby to bail when we're done here."

He walked over to the foremost console and entered in navigation data. Varro slumped back as the ship moved forward. The tactical display showed the cruiser's progression out of the facility.

"Ninety seconds to space doors," Rush announced, keeping a close eye on the display. "Oh no," he muttered, running back out into the corridor.

Varro was startled as he ran past him and stopped by the Nati computer. "What is it?"

After a moment of rapid typing, the scientist finally relaxed and let out a short chuckle. "With all out attention on the cruiser, I neglected to open the space doors to accommodate this ship."

Seeing how calmly he was reacting, Varro couldn't help but join in and laugh a bit as well. "Running into the doors; now that'd be a hell of a way to end this mission." All three of the men shared a laugh as they released some of the tension from the long day.

Getting it out of his system, Rush walked back up to the navigational console. Varro followed behind him, a small grin still visible behind his helmet. "The doors are open; we'll clear space doors in twenty seconds." He watched closely as the environment scrolled around the silhouette of the cruiser on the screen. The engines hummed powerfully as the ship passed by the space doors. "That's it, we are free to navigate. I'm bringing us about to face the oncoming asteroid."

The ship lurched forward as Rush increased the ship's velocity, and the screen showed the surrounding spin around, indications that the cruiser was turning hard to port. Rush zoomed out so the asteroid could now be visible. The cruiser was a small dot in comparison to the large bulbous rock, and the distance that separated then was almost one million kilometers.

"How long do we have until we make contact?" Varro asked, gazing at the screen over Rush's shoulder.

"About half an hour," responded Rush, as the ship shook slightly. "We've entered the debris field, but shields are holding for the moment."

Again, the ship took a hit from a substantial chunk of rock and the lights flickered slightly as the power grid fluctuated. "Here's to hoping they last half an hour," said Varro in as calm a voice he could muster.

With nothing to do for the time being, Rush looked around the room. His gaze drew him to one of the red circles sitting on the side of the wall. Upon a careful inspection, he noticed a set of controls located above it. He had observed that none of the other wall mounts like this contained those controls. Out of curiosity, he tapped one of the buttons, steadying himself against the nearby control panel as another piece of debris shook the deck.

The panel slid down and revealed a large piece of hardware sitting in the center of a housing unit. He grabbed onto the hardware and pulled hard, disconnecting it from the socket at the back of the unit.

"What are you doing?" Varro finally asked after watching in silence.

Rush struggled to pull it from the unit, but soon he had it out of the housing and sat it on the ground. He stared at it with marvel. "I believe it is a processing node in the computer's operating systems."

"I don't think it's safe to just pull things out of the wall while we're trying to control this ship," he cautioned.

"The ship has redundancies that can fill in for this one. We can learn a lot about their technology if we can get this back to _Destiny_." He glanced over to the screen and gauged he had enough time to begin examining the system.

* * *

><p>Leaving the cool comfort of the shore, Young's team made the final trek up the river bank and into the clearing. A group of six Airmen stood in a perimeter around the 'Gate. They turned around, weapons raised when they saw movement by the bank, but quickly lowered them once they saw who it was.<p>

"Colonel Young!" Airman Metner shouted out, walking up to join him as he approached the 'Gate. They met about twenty meters from the 'Gate. "Sir, we've secured the area and there has been no sign of the alien as of yet," she said promptly.

He continued on to the Stargate, Metner walking back with him. "If it wants off of this planet, one way or another it's coming back here. I intend to be ready for it." Stopping in front of the platform, he took a quick look at the exposed panel.

Eli walked all the way up to it and examined the jerry rigging the alien had done. "I have to admit, that was pretty clever. Though I didn't know they had that good an understanding about Ancient technology. Actually, come to think of it, why didn't it leave and contact a ship from another planet? You know, get away from us first?"

"Without a Kino, it's too dangerous to go to another planet," James speculated, resting her arms on the stock of her rifle.

"It doesn't matter right now," Young said gruffly. He looked around the whole clearing and finally focused on a dense tree line sitting thirty meters behind the Stargate. "If we're just standing around here, it'll never show up. Let's take cover back there until…"

The Colonel didn't have a chance to finish as a loud boom echoed through the air, seemingly from nowhere. All the military personnel raised their weapons quickly and pointed them out in all directions, looking for the source. Then four more booms followed, drawing Young's gaze up to the sky.

A large oval craft descended from the clouds, a red streak from its engines following behind it. The Nakai fighter flew quickly to the ground in a threatening manner, with two companions quickly following it.

"Get to cover!" Young shouted as the craft grew in size at an amazing rate. Everyone immediately bolted away from the Stargate and ran at breakneck speed to the tree line.

Two sharp pulses echoed through the air, and a few seconds later the ground shook as two fireballs erupted behind the group. Chunks of earth went flying everywhere and the ground quaked powerfully. Young, Chloe, and James were towards the rear and they all were thrown to the ground by the shock of the explosion.

His ears ringing, Young stared up at the sky to see two more fighters pop through the clouds and head on a course to the ruined city, while the other three fighters continued closing on the Stargate. The lead fighter fired another pair of shots, further sending the team scampering into the forest. Rising to his feet, he saw several Airmen turn quickly to fire a short burst from their rifles, but even if the bullet hit their target is simply bounced off of the shield protecting the fighter. He ran over to his left and helped Chloe up, starting to get his hearing back.

"Come on, move!" Pushing her off in the direction of the trees, he squatted and pulled his rifle up, firing short burst at the fighter. James had recovered from the blast and squatted next to Young. She adjusted the setting on her pulse rifle to maximum and aimed carefully at the fighter. As she did so, the barrel of the weapon began to glow with a powerful blue light, and emitted a high-pitched squeal of disapproval.

Realizing that his efforts were pointless, Young started to retreat but paused when he saw James aiming down her sights. Once the fighter was less than three hundred meters off of the ground she pulled the trigger and a large blue ball of energy flew out from the barrel of the weapon. It quickly closed the distance to the fighter and the energy splashed across the shields. The thin shields guarded the fighter dissolved and the remaining power of the blast washed over the port side of the ship. What looked like the port cannon exploded and that side of the fighter began to smoke.

Startled by the damage, the fighter pulled up and soared across the tree tops, out of sight for the moment. The two escorts did the same. Having some calm, Young looked back to James. She was gasping in pain as her rifle was releasing a lot of hot exhaust from the slits across the barrel. "I guess I overcooked that shot." The weapon cooled quickly and soon she could hold it comfortably again. "Now we know why you keep it on the lower setting."

"Good shot Lieutenant, that should give us enough time to regroup," he said in a thankful tone. They both ran to the tree line and gathered with the rest of their team. He took cover behind a tree at the edge of the clearing and looked on at his people. "Is everyone okay?"

He received a chorus of affirmatives. "Nice shooting," Greer said quickly to James, moving his assault rifle to his back and pulled up his pulse rifle.

"Colonel Young!" Metner exclaimed, pointing at something out in the clearing. Carefully he leaned out from the tree and gazed out. On the opposite end of the clearing the alien hybrid was emerging from the forest. It was fully dressed in baggy clothes that was not designed for its body and was holding some kind of weapon with a long, thin barrel.

Seeing the hybrid, he raised his rifle, and looked down his scope, lining up a good shot. Before he could fire, droning from all three of the fighters returned and they opened fire once more. A flurry of red energy pulses slammed into the ground all between the 'Gate and the tree line where the team was hiding. Explosions boomed across the landscape and completely obscured Young's sight. He retreated back behind the tree as everyone else also took cover behind anything they could find. There was a powerful heat wave that came from the series of explosions, and the jarring explosions shook the ground.

The barrage stopped after almost half a minute and left most of the people shell shocked. Once Young was mostly recovered he peeked back over the tree. Greer side stepped from his cover and moved to a tree closer to Young's. Together they looked at the carnage.

A cloud of smoke and dirt sat in the air for a while, preventing anything from being seen. However, the dull reverberating of the fighters' engines could be heard nearby. Soon the cloud began to thin out, and the red glow from the crafts became visible. All three were hovering over the Stargate, remaining perfectly still only ten meters above the ground. At first, only the red light pierced through the cloud ominously, but as the cloud settled, they could see the fighters.

Taking up the center position in the formation, the damaged fighter still had a smoking cannon on its port side. The two other fighters were on either side of the lead ship, and all three enemy ships had their cannons directly aimed at the team. Now that the cloud was mostly gone, Young could see the hybrid standing below the lead fighter, staring back out at him.

"What are they doing?" James said, peeking from her cover. "Why don't they just finish us?"

"They don't care about us," Chloe said in a weak voice. "We aren't as interesting as that hybrid. But if we interfere, they will kill us." She spoke in an almost prophetic manner.

As soon as she said that, a powerful white light emanated from the bottom of the center fighter. The light completely surrounded the hybrid, and a moment later the creature floated off the ground. Within a short moment, the beam had secured the hybrid in the fighter.

The two support craft began to fly off, heading back to the mothership that was undoubtedly in orbit of this planet. Hanging behind for a moment, the lead fighter continued to aim its cannon directly at the team's position. The light on the bottom disappeared and the entry point sealed on the craft. With a quick, jerky movement, the cannon tilted down and released one final shot with detonated a good distance in front of the trees. It was still close enough to force everyone to duck back into cover, and by the time the smoke cleared the fighter was high in the sky.

Left in peace, Young stepped out from the forest and everyone else followed suit. The ground in front of them was riddled with craters and dirt was splashed everywhere. A few small fires continued to burn in the craters and the smell of burning grass was thick. Young didn't take his eyes off the fighter until it disappeared through a cloud, a thin smoke trail tracing its path.

"Damn," Greer muttered, shaking his head despondently.

Chloe coughed as she walked into the torn up landscape with particles flying all through the air. She saw Young's frozen figure and walked up to him. "Colonel, you did what you could. You…"

"I shouldn't have waited and debated it on and on. If I had just killed it the moment we found out what it was," he said gruffly, finally staring back down to the ground. "There's no telling what the repercussions of my failing to act will be."

"You're not a cold-blooded killer," she said firmly, grabbing onto his arm. "I know you're a soldier, but _you_ also know that doesn't mean you kill everything you find."

Young swallowed hard, and looked over to Chloe. He stared hard at her, thinking over his decision over and over. Finally he gave her a short nod and turned to walk to the 'Gate. "Eli, dial us back. We've still got hostiles in the city; I'd rather get out of here before they decide they don't want to leave us alone."

"Gladly," he answered enthusiastically, snatching the remote from his bag and running up to the Stargate.

* * *

><p>The Gate Room was filled with some commotion as the crew was moving bags and containers of food out of the room and to their proper storage sites. Brody stood at the dialing terminal and let out a relieved breath when he saw Eli step through the event horizon. He was carrying Brody's Kino and tossed it over to him. The rest of the team made their speedy return to <em>Destiny<em>. Some were covered in dirt from the firefight, but everyone had managed to calm their nerves back down from the excitement.

Looking around at their physical states, Brody cocked his head in curiosity. "What happened to you guys?"

"We got attacked by the Nakai, but I'm gonna wing it and say they learned how to fight from the Vogons," he said with a grin.

"Colonel?" Brody asked again, slightly unsure how to take that answer.

The Airmen dispersed from the room and Young watched as TJ escorted Chloe and Ryder down the hall to the infirmary. He sighed and walked up to Brody as Greer and James headed out of the room. "The alien got away; his friends made sure of that. I'll go over everything in a briefing later. Now, where's Rush?"

Brody cleared his throat loudly and started walking down the hall. "Last I heard he was about ten minutes away from crashing into an asteroid."

"What?!" he exclaimed, temporarily putting the last few hours to the back of his mind.

"Yeah, well we've had some interesting developments going on here too. We can check on his status from the Control Interface Room." With Young in tow he began to speed walk down the halls.

They quickly made their way to the room where Volker and Park were already located, closely monitoring the situation on the holo-display. Park turned to greet the Colonel, her worried countenance showing the severity of the situation. "Bring me up to speed," he said. The display showed the asteroid making its way to the second planet with a small dot quickly approaching the asteroid.

"Rush found a Nakai cruiser in that outpost," Volker started, checking the telemetry from the cruiser. "Apparently the Nati found it a long time ago and have been studying it."

"They also found out that the reason the station was abandoned was because an asteroid was on a collision course for it," Park continued. "The planet below is populated, so Rush was going to use a controlled detonation of the cruiser's core to deflect the asteroid away from the planet."

The Colonel let the information sink in quickly as Volker's console beeped loudly. "The cruiser is hailing us."

"Put it on," Young said.

The line was quickly established and Rush's voice echoed through the room's speakers. "_Destiny_, we're on our final approach. The ship has sustained minor hull damage, but I think we can still complete the mission."

"Rush, this is Young," he announced quickly, walking up to the display. "Volker and Park just informed me of your plan. Are you sure that this will work?"

"Colonel, if I didn't have faith in my ability to execute this successfully, I promise you I would have objected harder when we were originally discussing it," the scientist chided tiredly. "I'm preparing to divert power to the hyperdrive; the drive is set to activate in four minutes, and when that happens the core will detonate."

Understanding that there was little he could do at this point, Young nodded at no one in particular. "Good luck."

* * *

><p>"Thank you Colonel." Quickly entering in the remaining commands for the delayed hyperdrive activation, Rush looked carefully at the screen. He waited for the right moment before running to the engineering console. "Diverting power now!" The screen reflected the sudden transfer of power from shields to the hypderdrive. In addition to that, the ship shuddered as there was no longer anything protecting the cruiser for impacts. Once more he made his way to the main console, and started the program. A countdown appeared on the screen to as the ship made its way closer to the asteroid. "It's done; we have four minutes until the core goes critical."<p>

The moment the shields went down the debris field began to deliver a greater punishment to the ship. A set of sparks flew from the open housing Rush had taken the processor from and the deck shook violently. Dozens of smaller collisions could be felt reverberating through the ship.

Rush moved quickly, grabbing the Nati tablet and the Nakai processor on his way out. With Varro at his side, he backtracked the way to the hangar bay from memory. Even though they were running as fast as they could, it still took nearly two minutes to reach the bay. They often were slowed down by a powerful impact that would knock them off balance.

The bay was a vast multistoried cavern that currently was a black void. A few fighters could be seen parked in front of the shuttle. Scott had the shuttle parked directly by the platform that descended down into the bay, which allowed Varro and Rush to run straight into the craft.

Sealing the door behind him, Rush stowed the equipment in the storage pods in the rear of the shuttle. "Take off Lieutenant!" he shouted as soon as the doors were closed. The shuttle automatically pressurized itself and the vents hissed as the atmosphere was restored.

With a shake, the shuttle lifted off of the hangar floor and pivoted towards the open passageway to space. Varro and Rush secured themselves at their posts as the shuttle flew out of the cruiser, everyone taking a free moment to remove their helmets. "Eighty seconds to detonation," Rush said once he had a chance to check the distance to the target. The shuttle rocked violently as a car sized rock grazed the top of the craft. Sparks flew from a panel on the ceiling. "Careful!"

"I know, this field is hard to navigate," Scott responded through gritted teeth. He plotted a course that took them straight up, relative to the solar axis, and out of the worst part of the field. Then he flattened out and began to head in the direction of _Destiny_ which was currently curving around the star and returning to this side of the solar system. As he did that, the asteroid settled into position in the lower right part of the viewport. "Jesus," he mumbled. The massive rock was covered in sharp edges and deep canyons, and was pockmarked by thousands of craters. When the cruiser slipped into view, it helped to establish a reference frame for the sheer monstrous size of the asteroid. Small fireballs erupted from the hull of the cruiser as rocks of all sizes slammed into it.

"We're only fifty kilometers away," Rush informed in an alarmed tone. "That's not nearly good enough."

"I'm pushing the engines to maximum!" Gradually, the asteroid began to disappear from the viewport as the shuttle left it behind. The star was off to port now and was casting a bright glow into the cockpit.

"Thirty seconds," Rush announced, keeping his eyes glued to the incoming telemetry. "We're nearing minimal safe distance." His side console beeped and he quickly glanced over at it. "_Destiny_ is straight ahead."

Indeed, there was a twinkling object floating in space far ahead of the shuttle. Without knowing what it was, from this distance it might as well have confused for a star, but as the shuttle came closer, the details started to appear.

Rush continued to watch as the shape of the cruiser approached and nearly touched the surface of the asteroid. "Here we go." He activated the rear-facing camera and zoomed in to look at the detonation.

Roughly three hundred meters from the surface, the cruiser attempted to enter hyperspace. A bright white glow formed behind the cruiser, and then immediately consumed the entire superstructure of the ship. The following explosion ripped the cruiser into a million fragments, the hull blossoming from the aft and tearing apart all the way to the bow. With a burning white light, a great fireball erupted, and grew until it was several kilometers wide. A significant portion of the debris field was incinerated by the blast. While the explosion soon began to dissipate and ease the strain on Rush's eyes, the resulting shockwave continued on. It quickly passed over the asteroid and the field, and caught up with the shuttle. At its extreme range, the wave was dispersed and did little more than shake the shuttle.

Rush let out a harsh breath and Scott turned back quickly to him. "Did it work? Did we deflect the asteroid?"

Switching the console to once more show sensor telemetry, Rush took a moment to scan the results of the detonation. He smiled and leaned back in his chair, resting his gloved hand on his tired head. "It did. The detonation managed to deflect the asteroid by eleven degrees, and slowed it down by a fractional amount. It's enough to ensure it misses the outpost and the planet. And it burned up about a fifth of the remaining debris field."

Scott put a big grin on his face and let loose a happy laugh. "Now that is what I call a good day's work! Rush, we'll celebrate this with a trip to Brody's bar."

Nodding agreeably, Rush panned over to look at the side console which was currently beeping. "It's _Destiny_." He pushed a few buttons and activated the comm line. "This is Rush."

"We were monitoring your situation from here," Young said in a calm manner. "I'm glad to see everything worked out well on your end."

"As am I." He paused and took a moment to stare into the back compartment where he stored his findings. "Colonel, I should apologize for taking matters into my own hands."

There was a short moment of stunned silence from the comm line, and even Scott and Varro gazed back in slight surprise. Finally Young responded. "You didn't do anything wrong. Sounds like you all did a fine job."

"Yeah, I'll make sure my report is thoroughly enlightening."

"I'd appreciate that. _Destiny_ out." The line went to static and Rush terminated the channel. He sat in silence the rest of the trip as Scott piloted the shuttle straight for the ship.

* * *

><p>Rush and Young walked down the hall, trading highlights from each of their respective missions. The vents overhead hissed quietly as they cycled fresh air into the ship, and the hum of the engines grew modestly as the ship was accelerating away from the star.<p>

"How are you feeling?" Young asked in concern. "You mentioned that the core was radioactive."

Rush dismissed the worry with a wave. "I checked with the internal sensors on the suits; they absorbed the majority of the radiation. What little exposure we received might give us headaches for a day or two."

"That's good news. And at least you managed to pick up some interesting souvenirs from your excursion," Young said.

"Well, I doubt the Nati data I found will tell us anything we don't already have access to," admitted Rush in an upbeat tone, "but the Nakai processor can give us a valuable insight into how their technology works."

"Once you can access it that is," he reminded Rush.

The scientist shrugged off the comment. "It shouldn't take long to develop a proper interface. The Nati database has some records of their own attempts, so that should prove simple enough."

Young nodded and gave his companion a sidelong glance as they walked on. "You know, you did a good job today. I mean it; it pissed me off you didn't keep me in the loop, but I suppose I can't argue with your results."

"I guess sometimes our missions can work out for the best," he said, almost immediately regretting his wording. Looking to Young he gave him an apologetic nod. "That probably wasn't what you want to hear right now."

"No, it's fine. We know there's a degree of risk every time we step on another world. Sometimes we win, and sometimes we lose." Despite the calm tone he used, Young did seem to be somewhat torn up on the matter.

"It's strange," Rush started slowly, "when the actions of a people long dead return to cause us problems. The creations by an alien race that we never saw, never heard, never had any interaction with, were able to lead us down such an unfortunate road." He stared down the length of the hallway, a frown creasing his forehead. "Makes you realize just how connected we all are, when such distant ghosts are able to haunt us."

Young scoffed at him. "You scare me when you start getting poetic. Even more when you're right. Still doesn't change the fact that my failure to act landed us in a lot of trouble."

"If it helps, I would've done the same as you," Rush said reassuringly. He got a confused glare from the Colonel. "I don't think I could pass up an opportunity to take one of their people alive and study them; learn as much as possible," he explained with a grin.

The response led Young to chuckle and shake his head in disbelief. "You're right, that did help." They continued walking the remaining short distance to the Infirmary.

Inside the Infirmary, the mood quickly shifted from jovial to sober. Chloe and Ryder were sitting on two adjacent beds, both with a grave look on their faces. At the back of the room, TJ was poring over data on her laptop.

Young lost his grin as TJ noticed his arrival and walked up to him. "Sir, I think we may have a problem."

His eyes darted over to the two women on the medical beds and back to TJ. "Did the device do something to them?"

She shook her head quickly, going back and bringing her laptop to him. "No they're fine. I ran all the scans I could think of and they are both healthy. But the more I thought about that hybrid, the more questions I started to get." TJ set the laptop down so everyone could see it. On the screen, she had a brain scan of Ryder. It had two charts on the side, graphing two sets of brain activity. "I don't think the hybrid has Tabitha's consciousness. I think the device used Major Brooks' neural signature."

"Based on what the Colonel told me," Rush said grimly, "that would make sense. Brooks was exposed to an Ancient repository, and the device was searching for the superior mental pattern."

"It explains how come it was so easily able to adapt the Stargate to send a message," Chloe added on.

The Colonel stood still and took a few seconds for the information to sink in. "If that's true, we've got more than just a problem."

"Once they find out just what kind of knowledge we have access to," Rush started, crossing his arms and stepping back from the laptop, "they're only going to want more. They left _Destiny_ alone after our encounter in the last galaxy probably because they wanted to talk time to study what they got from Chloe. They've been waiting for years to find us again, and the next time they find us, they won't settle on just information; they'll want everything."

"Do we know exactly what Ancient information Brooks had?" Young asked.

"An array of technical data," Rush said vaguely, scratching his stubbly cheek as he talked. "It included weapons, shields, advanced propulsion, and a wide-range of research projects. The next time we go to Earth I can find a definitive list."

Young groaned aloud at the mention of Earth. "Oh God, that is going to be a horrible debriefing."

"At this point, there's nothing we can really do; other than prepare for the future." TJ closed her laptop and took a step closer to her patients. "You two are free to go."

As they rose from their beds, Scott walked into the Infirmary. His excited disposition wasn't diminished by the overall lack of levity in the room as he approached Chloe. "Hey, how are you doing?"

She put a small smile on her face. "Good, TJ said we're fine."

"Great. A bunch of us are down at Brody's; gonna celebrate the fact the sun will continue to rise on that planet." He took great pride in the success of the mission he participated in, and Rush couldn't help but crack a grin. "Rush, you'll be there right?"

Rush nodded. "Of course, but I need to do one thing first. I'll be there in soon. I would appreciate it however, if you made sure Colonel Young found his was down there," he said with a smirk. "He needs a reprieve from filing reports."

"I couldn't agree more," Scott replied enthusiastically.

Before he could attempt to speak, Young threw his hands up in surrender. "I'll be along; you don't have to convince me."

Satisfied that everything was turning out fine here, Scott took Chloe by the arm and led her out of the Infirmary. Ryder started to leave, but stopped in front of Young. "Colonel, I just wanted to say, thanks for having me on the mission," she said slowly. "I know it's a bit weird; the whole thing felt like a catastrophe, but somehow being at the center of all the action was helpful. It brought some unresolved issues to the surface, and was a good experience. I just… just wanted you to know that." With a smile she extended her hand to him.

Genuinely happy at her progress, Young took her hand and shook it firmly. "That's good to hear." He released her hand and she promptly left the Infirmary.

"Maybe you did more good on that mission than you thought," Rush said from the threshold to the Infirmary. With that he turned the corner and walked down the corridor.

* * *

><p>Eli stood by the recharging plate, tapping his fingers impatiently on the platform. His iPod sat on the plate for only a few seconds before he quickly snatched it from the plate. He checked if it was fully charged before turning to leave. The sudden appearance of Ginn in the hallway made him jump.<p>

"Oh, crap. You have got to start announcing yourself," he said with a wide grin. Pocketing his music player, he walked down to the Kino storage room.

"Sorry," said Ginn, walking with him. "There's been a lot of talk around the ship about your mission. That compound you found sounded exciting. You've had quite the busy day."

He let out an awkward laugh and gave her a nod of confirmation. "Yeah, that's one way to put it."

"At least you all came back alive. It can't have been that bad," she said reassuringly.

"You're right, and I'm kind of glad about how some things turned out." He let that hang in silence for a moment as they entered the rotunda. Leaning against his closed door, he sighed and looked solemnly at Ginn. "Back on the planet, when I saw what that alien technology could do… I wondered if maybe it could bring you back. But then I watched as all the wrong things kept happening and it made me realize how short-sighted I was. I mean, without even checking out the tech, I was seriously thinking about using it."

Ginn smiled and looked him straight in his eyes, her expression breaking him from his brooding. "You did the right thing. That technology would've exists to bread and encourage war; it's nothing I want to be exposed to. I'll admit, being invisible to people most of the time is frustrating, but it's not the worst that could happen to me. Don't beat yourself up over this."

With a sly look on his face, Eli tapped the door chime and opened the door to the Kino room. "I've got something for you." He walked into his room and reached for a bag that he had hidden under bed. From inside, he pulled out a Kino that had many adjustments to it. Dozens of small reflective panels coated the surface of the camera, and several antennas sat on the top of it. The bottom panel had been twisted off, and extra hardware had been attached to it. Overall, it had a cumbersome, thrown together appearance. "I managed to find a spare set of holographic emitters in storage, and with enough tweaking and programming, I got this portable emitter made for you. It can project your image, and the Kino can be controlled through the computer to allow you to move. Now you can walk around freely, and you don't have to be invisible."

He activated it from his console and held his hand out in the air. It floated off of the palm of his hand and stayed perfectly still in the center of the room. Pressing a few buttons, he enabled control of the Kino to the main computer. Then he noticed that Ginn's reaction, while happy, was not terribly ecstatic.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, flabbergasted at the lack of the desired response. "I tested it out, it does work… I…" She was suppressing a laugh as he was reached for an explanation. Eli frowned for a moment and then his eyes went wide. "You knew!"

Ginn began laughing and nodded her head. "It was kind of silly of you to build it in secret when you're working on a Kino. You do know that those are my eyes on this ship."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" he asked, slumping down into his chair.

She shrugged as she stopped laughing. "You seemed to enjoy working in secret. I didn't want to take that away from you."

Finally he laughed back at her, shaking his head. "Well, why don't you try it out?"

"Okay." She immediately dissolved and for a moment nothing happened. Then Eli's computer started to process more data as the Kino's emitters. A shadowy figure initially surrounded the Kino, and within a second it took on the appearance of Ginn. She held her hands out in front of her and stared at them. Then she turned to look at Eli. "You can see me, right?" Her voice came through clearly from the speakers he had attached to the camera.

He grinned and nodded in response. "Clear as day. It's not much of an improvement; I know. But at least this way you can interact with the crew without any trouble. And, I have faith that with enough time I can eventually find a way to solidify the projection. Figuring out the collision matrix for all the boundary particles and possibly temperature regulation might be tricky, but…"

"Eli," she said firmly, snapping him out of his monologue. "Thank you, so much. This is perfect." She gave Eli a genuinely happy smile. "Now, I hear there's a bit of a celebration down at Brody's bar. Maybe you want to join them?"

Putting his iPod down on his table, he gave her an approving look. "It's a date." He gestured for her to go first, and followed her out as she walked back out into the rotunda.

* * *

><p>The Bridge was empty since the countdown clock had almost expired and there was nothing left to do in the system. With the star behind <em>Destiny<em>, the viewports had a simple vista of the stars. Rush walked in and slowly maneuvered over to the communication station. He entered in a preloaded command sequence and sent out a transmission. It took almost a minute for him to get an acknowledgement. The Kino deployed from in front of the command chair and the monitors slowly began to deploy. Rush walked to the chair and stood in front of it.

The monitors quickly brought up the video link with Kalin sitting in front of his desk in the same Nati lab from before. "Hello again doctor Rush. How did your mission go?"

"It was very successful actually. Apparently there was a threat to the station, so the Nati abandoned it," he started, very matter-of-factly. "We were able to remove the danger however."

"That sounds like good news," Kalin replied.

Rush nodded and moved to the comm station, the Kino following his every move. He entered in a sequence of commands into the laptop there. "The outpost is completely operational, and the Nati did indeed have a flourishing ship yard at this location. I'm sending you everything we gathered on our mission."

Looking off screen, Kalin gestured to another officer to check the telemetry. "We've got the data. It should prove to be interesting material for our intelligence division."

"I think it could be more than that. The Nati aren't coming back here; as far as they are concerned this station has been destroyed. With its powerful defenses and supplies, it could be a safe harbor for the insurgents," he said, presenting his offer to Kalin in a friendly manner.

"That's a very tempting idea," he admitted, looking over the data he received. "I'll present the offer to my superiors; if all goes well we can have a task force out there in a few days."

"Very good." Rush paused and switched to a softer disposition. "How are you doing Kalin? You look much better."

"I'm actually doing fairly well. Most of the burn damage has been healed, and I've been walking for the last four days," he grimaced mildly at that last part. "It's been a bit painful, but the physical therapy is really helping. Working here is so different; the social landscape took me a while to get used to. But at the end of the day, the work I'm doing is helping these people, so I can't complain." Kalin looked pleased to be able to talk about his life. "Thanks for asking."

"No problem. I'm glad to hear you're happy. We'll talk again, Rush out." Kalin gave him a quick wave before the picture cut out. The room reset itself to the conditions from before the communication and Rush slowly lumbered out of the room.

* * *

><p>James and Scott banged their metal mugs together and quickly downed a generous amount of alcohol. They both gagged for a moment on the strong beverage. Grabbing a small piece of a citrus fruit, Scott bit down on it hard and drank the small bit of sour juice it produced.<p>

Laughing from the chair next to Scott, Chloe just shook her head. "You people are crazy."

"Well you'll be happy to hear that since we've found more fruits recently," Brody said reaching for a few small bottles under his bar, "I've been able to mix together a few interesting cocktails. I figured it was time I expand the menu here."

Volker was standing by the still, currently filling up several bottles with the alcohol. "I also helped."

She raised her eyebrow with interest at the statement. "Oh, what do you have?"

Brody held the first bottle up and read the label he had placed on it. "Yeah, this one is something like a cranberry-orange blend. And this other one is a bit like an apple. Also, I managed to get some plain carbonated water; I've been craving seltzer for a long time." He put a mug in front of Chloe. "I'll have more soon; it just takes a while to make something that actually tastes good." Not discretely at all, he took a step back and shut a container that had over a dozen other bottles inside of it. Volker stood by the container and silently mouthed 'it's horrible'.

Everyone snickered and Young, who was sitting beside Chloe, gave Brody a funny look. "Brody, if you want this to be a good bar, you'll have to put a billiards table in here." Scott laughed aloud and banged the table, and everyone joined in with him.

Grinning, Chloe poured some of the apple blend into her cup and Brody added a couple parts of alcohol. Young did the same but with the other blend. Chloe tried a small sip of her drink, and nodded in approval. "Now that is something I can drink."

Volker's eyes went wide and he stared at the door. "Holy crap."

"Hey guys," Eli said, walking into the bar. The projection of Ginn was right beside him, and at first everyone stared.

"Okay, I think I've had enough, 'cuz I'm seeing things," Scott said meekly putting his mug on the bar and pushing it away from him.

Eli smirked at his reaction. "No, she's actually here. I rigged a Kino to project a hologram for her."

"It's good to see you again," Chloe said as she was the first to recover from the surprise.

They walked up to the bar and Eli sat at the available seat to the right of James. Ginn stood still beside Eli, unsure of what to do. "I'm sorry; it's just been so long since I've had the chance to interact with people on this level. It's just a bit different than just watching."

"You don't have to feel uncomfortable," Young said, taking a sip from his drink.

"Yeah, you're always welcome to join in," Chloe affirmed.

While they had been talking, Rush entered the room and was marveling at Ginn's presence. "Well, I guess today's is a bit of a reunion," he said, walking around the bar and standing next to Brody since all of the seats on the other side had been filled. He noticed the bottles on the bar and grabbed the one with the carbonated water. Taking a clean mug, he filled it a quarter full with alcohol and added another quarter of water. He held the mug up. "The closest we can get to a gin and tonic somehow feels appropriate for this, doesn't it?"

Eli snorted at the joke, and accepted a mug that Brody had poured for him. He had refilled all the empty mugs and poured a bit for himself as well. Everyone took their mugs and raised them in the air. "To Ginn," he said. They all lightly tapped their mugs together and drank down their beverages.

* * *

><p>Sifting through the dirt, Park continued planting seeds in another empty container she had dragged into the room. She didn't work in silence for long as the door opened on the other end of the room, behind the taller plants. "Lisa, are you in here?" TJ called out.<p>

"I'm in the back," Park responded, taking a break and looking up. TJ and Varro found their way through the plots first, and behind them was Greer and Wray. "Hi Ronald, Camille."

"I realized that you were putting a lot of work on yourself with taking care of the food, so when Tamara told me where she was going I thought I might help out. If it's okay with you," Wray asked, sitting down on the other side of the dirt filled container next to Varro and TJ. Greer walked around and put himself down by Park.

Smiling at the company and holding Greer's hand, she nodded energetically. "It's not a problem; I'd love it for you all to join up." She pointed to a bag of seeds on the other side of the plot and TJ, Varro, and Wray started picked seeds from it.

"Word around the ship is you blew up one of cruisers from those fish heads," Greer said to Varro in a congratulatory voice. "May I say that I highly approve."

"Yeah well, it was an abandoned ship; we never saw a single alien," he replied. "Not that I'm going to complain. I hear the story is different for your guys." Varro looked from Greer to TJ as finished speaking.

They continued trading stories from their separate missions as the ship groaned in preparation for a jump to F.T.L. Park gazed up at the dome and watched as the brilliant orange hue that was being caught by the star shifted to a brilliant white light. In a moment it settled into a peaceful blue, and the wisps of energy from the vertex washed over the dome, the dull drone from the engines filling the room.

"Hey," Greer said, bumping Park on the elbow. She looked back down to him. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

She nodded and leaned in, kissing him lightly on the cheek. "I'm doing great." Looking back out to the other side, she saw Varro, TJ, and Wray planting and talking. With a smile on her face, she continued to part the dirt and plant the seeds. The blue light waved over the floor and set a calm ambiance throughout the area as the five of them worked on plot of dirt.

* * *

><p><em>On the next all new episode of Stargate Universe. A bold kidnapping leaves the SGC missing one of its best. Called in to help, the crew of <em>Destiny_ must waste no time to rescue their friend. But not all is as it seems when an old, distant enemy returns to lead the fight against Earth._


End file.
